Razorback Roundup -- May 24

RAZORBACK ROUNDUPMay 24, 2010BASEBALL (40-16, 18-12): The Razorbacks finished the regular season with a 2-2 week on the road against Oklahoma and Vanderbilt. Arkansas opened with a midweek loss in Norman against the 14th-ranked Sooners. Collin Kuhn paced the team with three hits, but Oklahoma starter Michael Rocha held the Hogs to one run to lead the Sooners to a 5-2 win. In the series opener at Vanderbilt, a two-and-a-half hour rain delay caused a late start. Kuhn and Bo Bigham had two hits, and Monk Kreder drove in two runs, but the Commodores came away with a 4-3 victory. The Razorbacks evened the series with a 4-3 win in game two. Kuhn and Kreder each homered for Arkansas and Mike Bolsinger matched his career high with an eight-inning performance on the mound. The win snapped the Hogs’ five-game skid and gave Dave Van Horn his 900th career victory as a collegiate head coach. The Razorbacks clinched the series and the No. 4 seed at the SEC Tournament with a 7-5 victory in the finale. TJ Forrest tossed six shutout innings and Kreder drove in a career-high four runs in the win. In news away from the field, Zack Cox was named a semifinalist for the Dick Howser Trophy, an award given to the top collegiate player in the nation, by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association. Arkansas finished the regular season with a second-place finish in the SEC Western Division and faces Vanderbilt in the 4-5 matchup in the first round of the SEC Tournament at Regions Park in Hoover, Ala. The game is the final contest on day one and begins 30 minutes after the completion of the Florida-LSU game, which begins at 4:30 p.m. Arkansas’ game is televised by CSS and by CST. Every game of the SEC Tournament is televised by CSS or SportSouth (CST and Fox Sports Southwest, respectively, in Northwest Arkansas) with the championship game aired on ESPN2. All games are also streamed live at ESPN3.com. In addition to the Razorbacks Sports Network from ISP, the games are also aired nationwide by XM Satellite Radio (Ch. 199) and Sirius (Ch. 214).MEN’S BASKETBALL: The Razorbacks added Brett Nelson to their coaching staff last week. Nelson was an assistant coach at Central Florida before taking the Arkansas position and was an All-American and All-SEC guard at Florida from 2000-03. WOMEN’S BASKETBALL: Head coach Tom Collen announced the addition of Keira Peak for the 2010-11 season. Peak brings the total to four newcomers for Collen, who begins his fourth season this fall. Peak is a first-team all-state selection from Clyattville, Ga. (near Valdosta). Listed as a power or strong forward for Lowndes High School, Peak played in 29 games, averaging 22.0 ppg as a senior. Her career numbers include 83 games, 18.0 ppg, 3.0 apg and 12.0 rpg in four seasons. In addition to her all-state honor, Peak most recently earned MVP honors at the North-South All-Star game. She is a first-team all-region selection as a senior after earning second-team honors as a junior. Peak paced the Lowndes Vikettes to three consecutive 22-plus win seasons and scored more than 1,200 career points. She grabbed more than 800 career rebounds and had 200-plus steals.MEN’S GOLF: Arkansas finished eighth at the NCAA Atlanta Regional last weekend, ending its season. Junior Jamie Marshall was two strokes off a playoff for an individual berth to the NCAA Championship as he led the Razorbacks at tied for 13th. Senior Dalton Owens rebounded from a tough first day (76) to shoot back-to-back rounds of even par on a course that had nearly every player over par. Freshmen Austin Cook and Josh Eure finished third and fourth on the Razorback roster at 10- and 11-over par, respectively. Each Razorback will continue to play in tournaments over the summer, including four who will participate in U.S. Open Sectional Qualifying on June 7. Those include seniors David Lingmerth and Dalton Owens, junior Jamie Marshall and sophomore Ethan Tracy.WOMEN’S GOLF: Kelli Shean earned selection to the 2010 National Golf Coaches Association All-America second team. Shean, a junior from Cape Town, South Africa, enjoyed her best season as a Razorback with a 73.27 average. She led Arkansas in nine of 11 tournaments and picked up her first collegiate win, shooting a career-best 209 at the Marilyn Smith Sunflower Invitational in the fall. Shean picked up her first All-Southeastern Conference selection this year. She ranked in the top 10 in the league all year and is ranked seventh as the season closed.SOFTBALL (28-29, 10-18): Seniors Jessica Bachkora, Sandra Smith and Miranda Dixon were each named to the 2010 Louisville Slugger/National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) Division I All-South Region team. Bachkora and Smith were first-team honorees while Dixon earned second-team recognition.WOMEN’S TENNIS (18-10, 6-5): Anouk Tigu begins competition in the NCAA Singles Championships this week at the Magill Tennis Center in Athens, Ga.MEN’S OUTDOOR TRACK AND FIELD: No. 25 Arkansas is represented by 18 student-athletes in 13 events at the NCAA West preliminary rounds Thursday-Saturday at Texas’ Mike A. Myers Stadium. For the first time since the 2005 season, Arkansas’ 4×100-meter and 4×400-meter relays are in the NCAA Championships. Freshmen Hunter Bourke, Caleb Cross and Cobi Hamilton, and junior LaShawn Butler comprise the sprint relay. Junior Chris Bilbrew, Butler, Cross and sophomore Ben Skidmore make up the mile relay. Butler is also in the 200. Skidmore is in the 400 and freshman Drew Butler the 800. Cross and sophomore Andrew Pennington are in the 110-meter hurdles. In the distance events, juniors Michael Chinchar and Patrick Russell are in the 1,500 meters. Sophomore Rick Elliott is in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. Arkansas has a trio in the 10,000 meters: freshman Eric Fernandez, freshman Solomon Haile and junior Lane Boyer. In the field events, sophomores Tarik Batchelor and Terry Prentice are in the long jump and Batchelor the triple jump. Freshman Brede Raa Ellingsen is in the high jump and junior Luke Laird is in the javelin. Senior Alain Bailey, ranked No. 1 in the NCAA in the long jump (27-4.75), also qualified for the NCAA West prelims but will not compete because of injury.WOMEN’S OUTDOOR TRACK AND FIELD: No. 13 Arkansas is represented by 16 student-athletes in 11 events at the NCAA West preliminary rounds Thursday-Saturday at Texas’ Mike A. Myers Stadium. Junior Shelise Williams leads a Razorback quartet in the 400 meters. She is joined by freshman Regina George, junior Edina Brooks and senior Karen Thomas. The quartet, joined by sophomore Whitney Jones, make up the legs of the 4×400-meter relay, currently ranked No. 1 with an NCAA-leading time of 3:31.05. In the middle distances, freshman Stephanie Brown is in the 800. Sophomores Kristen Gillespie and Samantha Learch are in the 1,500. In the distance races, junior Miranda Walker is in the 5,000 meters and sophomore Cali George is in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. Sophomore Brittany Hyter is in the 100-meter hurdles and the 400-meter hurdles, and freshman Leah Orley is in the 400-meter hurdles. The trio of pole vaulters is led by senior Katie Stripling. She is joined by sophomore Tina Sutej and senior Janice Keppler. Jones and junior Shantel Thompson are in the long jump and Thompson the triple jump.