Razorback Roundup -- March 23

RAZORBACK ROUNDUPMarch 23, 2009BASEBALL (16-4, 6-0) The No. 15 Razorbacks went 4-1 on the week to improve their overall record to 16-4. The Hogs swept their weekend series at Auburn to move to a perfect 6-0 in Southeastern Conference play, their best start ever in the SEC. Arkansas head coach Dave Van Horn reached a pair of milestones on the week when he won his 100th SEC game as Arkansas’ coach and his 250th overall on Friday and Saturday, respectively. Dallas Keuchel was very good on the mound Friday night as he outdueled one of the top arms in the SEC to help the Razorbacks to a 3-2 win and the Razorback bats came alive the rest of the weekend by scoring 22 runs on 27 hits. The Razorbacks are back on the field on Wednesday evening against Missouri St. at Baum Stadium and look to continue their hot SEC start when Mississippi State comes to town for a weekend series.MEN’S BASKETBALL (14-16) Junior Michael Washington was named second-team All-SEC by the Associated Press. Last year, he averaged 4.3 points and 3.9 rebounds in just over 13 minutes a game. This year, he led the team with 15.5 points, 9.8 rebounds, 1.3 blocked shots and a .551 field goal percentage.WOMEN’S BASKETBALL (17-13) Arkansas returns to the court for the first time since March 5, and first time in a month at Walton Arena, to host Oklahoma State in the second round of the Women’s NIT at 7 p.m. Monday. FOOTBALL Arkansas is scheduled to begin spring practice March 24 at 4 p.m. on the practice fields south of Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium. UA will practice on March 24, 25, 27, 28, 31, April 1 3, 4, 7, 8, 10, 14, 15, 17 and the spring game with be held April 18. MEN’S GOLF The University of Arkansas men’s golf team will again take to the course March 28-29 at the Texas Invitational.WOMEN’S GOLF Arkansas junior Lucy Nunn finished three-under and in second place at the Betsy Rawls Longhorn Classic leading the Razorbacks to a third-place team showing in the final round Sunday in Austin, Texas. Nunn posted rounds of 70-70-73 for 213, three strokes behind with winner. Nunn is coming off her first career win last week at the LSU/Cleveland Classic. Arkansas is currently ranked 19th in the Golfstat poll, 21st in the Golf Week poll and 24th in the NGCA Coaches Poll. The Razorbacks return to the golf course March 27-30, traveling to Athens, Ga., for the Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic as the spring season continues.GYMNASTICS (11-9, 3-3) The ninth-ranked Razorback gymnastics team is coming off a sixth-place showing at the 2009 SEC Championship in Nashville, Tenn., this weekend. Junior Casey Jo Magee became Arkansas’ first-ever first-team All-SEC member finishing in a tie for the win on the beam. Junior Michelle Stout earned second-team All-SEC honors on vault. The duo were just the second and third all-SEC selections in program history. Arkansas posted SEC program bests for team score, bars and floor at the meet. The Razorbacks will host the 2009 South Central Regional Championship and learn of the six-team selection to the Fayetteville Regional Monday afternoon.MEN’S INDOOR TRACK AND FIELD Men’s track and field will make its outdoor debut Fri.-Sat., March 27-28 at the Stanford Invitational.WOMEN’S INDOOR TRACK AND FIELD Women’s track and field picked up six event wins and six regional qualifiers at the UC Irvine Spring Break Classic this weekend. Events wins include the pole vault, long jump, 200 meters, 400 meters, 3,000 meters and the 4×400-meter relay. Senior Sarah Landau led a 1-2-3-4 finish for the Razorbacks in the pole vault. She cleared 12-11.5 to take the win. Junior Janice Keppler, sophomore Tara Diebold and freshman Tina Sutej tied for second with their clearances of 12-7.5. All four cleared the regional-qualifying height. In her outdoor debut, freshman Whitney Jones won the long jump. Her best jump of the day measured 19-8.75 and qualifies her for the NCAA Regional Championships in May. Arkansas ended the two-day event with a win in the 4×400-meter relay. The quartet of Courtenay Brown, Etienne Chaplin, Karen Thomas and Shelise Williams combined for a time of 3:40.10, also a regional qualifier.SOCCER:The Arkansas soccer team begins spring play under new head coach Erin Aubry this week with the alumni game scheduled for Saturday, March 28 with a noon start at Razorback Field. It will be the first of five spring contests for the Razorbacks. The rest of the spring calendar includes trips to Oklahoma (April 4) and Kansas (April 11), the Red-White scrimmage (April 17) and a home contest against Missouri State. All home games will be played at Razorback Field.SOFTBALL (18-10, 7-1): Arkansas (18-10, 7-1) opened the week by sweeping a mid-week series on the road against Mississippi State, its first series sweep in Starkville. In the top of the eighth inning, the Razorbacks scored five runs on a Brittany Griffiths RBI single and a Jessica Bachkora inside-the-park grand slam to break a 3-3 tie and take game one, 8-3. In game two, Whitney Cloer had three doubles and Griffiths scored twice to push Arkansas to a 5-1 win. Kayla Johnson had four hits and Miranda Dixon pitched the Razorbacks to a 3-2 victory in game three for the sweep. At home for the weekend against Kentucky, the Razorbacks fell behind by eight before dropping an 11-4 decision to the Wildcats in the series opener. In the second game, Arkansas had four home runs, including two from Cloer, to respond with an 8-5 win. In Sunday’s rubber game, the Razorbacks took a 3-2 lead after an RBI double by Tori Mort and a two-run shot by Cloer in the third. After Kentucky tied the game with a run in the fourth, Bachkora hit a solo home run in the bottom of the fifth to lift the Razorbacks to the 4-3 win and series victory. Next, the Razorbacks travel to Knoxville for a mid-week doubleheader with Tennessee and end the week with a three-game series at Ole Miss.SWIMMING AND DIVING (10-1, 3-1) Swimmers Jamie Marks, Stephanie Carr, Katie Kastes, Yi-Ting Siow and Leah Pierce represented the No. 19 Razorbacks at the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships last weekend. Over the course of the three day meet, the Razorbacks broke Arkansas records in the: 500 free (Carr), 1,650 free (Marks), 200 breast (Siow), 100 breast (Pierce), 200 IM (Siow) and 400 IM (Siow). Siow finished fourth in the 200 breast event, the highest individual performance in Razorback swimming history. Kastes, Siow, Pierce and Marks also earned All-America honors for their performances at the championship meet, the most Razorbacks to earn All-America honors in a single season in swimming and diving. NCAAs caps a historic season that saw a best-ever 10 wins and a program-best fifth place finish in the Southeastern Conference.MEN’S TENNIS (9-7, 1-3): The No. 44 Hogs hosted UMKC and Oral Roberts in a doubleheader on Sunday at the George M. Billingsley Tennis Center. The Razorbacks won all six doubles matches and all 12 singles matches on the day, not dropping a set against either the Kangaroos (6-5) or the Golden Eagles (1-6). Sophomore Chris Nott claimed two victories playing at No. 1 singles in both matches, securing his 10th and 11th dual wins of the season and his 20th overall singles victory. Nott is the first Hog to 20 victories on the season a year after leading the team with 27 wins as a freshman in 2007-08. Nott and doubles partner Dmitry Lebedev scored two wins at No. 1 doubles. The Hogs will travel to Knoxville, Tenn. to face the Vols at 1 p.m. on Friday.WOMEN’S TENNIS (8-4, 3-1): The 17th-ranked University of Arkansas women’s tennis team split matches during the week losing to No. 69 SMU, 5-2, and defeating Memphis, 7-0. Arkansas won all nine matches in dominating the Tigers on Saturday. Sophomore Anouk Tigu, ranked 92nd in singles, and freshman Emily Carbone each claimed their 20th singles win on the season. Tigu is currently riding a 13-match win-streak dating back to the fall season and is 20-1 overall. Arkansas will begin Southeastern Conference action this week in Alabama, facing No. 63 Alabama on Friday and No. 25 Auburn on Sunday.OLYMPIC SPORTS PRESS CONFERENCETuesday at 1 p.m. in the Barnhill Arena interview room.