Arkansas Moves Into Top 15

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Winners of three-straight conference series and fresh off a road series win at Alabama, Arkansas continued its rise in the national polls released on Monday. After cracking into the top 20 last week, the Razorbacks moved up to No. 15 in three of the national polls and as high as No. 14 in the Collegiate Baseball Magazine poll.

The No. 14 ranking matches Arkansas’ highest ranking from a year ago and is a steady rise from not being ranked in any poll at the start of this season. The Razorbacks have been ranked in at least one poll in each of the last three weeks and this is the fourth week overall in the national polls.

After the Collegiate Baseball ranking, the Hogs are No. 15 in the D1Baseball.com, National College Baseball Writers’ Association, and USA Today/Coaches’ polls. By the Baseball America standards, Arkansas is No. 16 in the nation according to its poll. Arkansas also saw a slight rise in the RPI rankings, moving up to No. 18 after being at No. 20 heading into the Alabama series.

Winning two of three against the Crimson Tide, Arkansas has come out on the winning side of its first three SEC series for the first time since 2009. The Hogs have done it with strong hitting up and down their lineup including 10+ hit games in each of their wins over Alabama. As a team, the Hogs are batting .288 with four players batting over .300.

One player starting to show increased production is junior Chad Spanberger. On Sunday, Spanberger had a career-high four hits. Over his last six games, all against SEC opponents, Spanberger is hitting .379 with four multi-hit games and seven RBIs.

On the mound, sophomore Blaine Knight has led the charge as he’s won his last three starts, all Friday night starts in SEC play, going six or more innings and striking out seven or more batters. Knight currently has 48 strikeouts on the year against just two walks, giving him the best strikeout-to-walk ratio in the nation (24:1). Since SEC play started, Knight has a 1.71 ERA and is holding opponents to a .151 average, good for fourth in the league.

Arkansas returns home after playing on the road for six of the last seven games as it will host Grand Canyon University for a two-game midweek series starting on Tuesday at Baum Stadium. First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m. and will be broadcast on SEC Network+.

A full roundup of where the Razorbacks rank in the national polls is listed below. To see the full poll, click the name of the publication you would like to see.

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