Arkansas Baseball Notebook

April 1, 2007

Week: 3-1

Overall Record: 22-8

SEC Record: 7-2 – 1st SEC West

Tuesday, March 27: Oral Roberts 5, #7 Arkansas 3

Friday, March 30: #7 Arkansas 6, Tennessee 2

Saturday, March 31: #7 Arkansas 4, Tennessee 3

Sunday, April 1: #7 Arkansas 11, Tennessee 7

Noting the Razorbacks

No. 7 Arkansas completed the school’s first sweep of Tennessee in Knoxville over the weekend to improve to 22-8 on the season and an SEC-best 7-2 in conference play … Hogs’ skipper Dave Van Horn won his 500th-career Division-I game on Sunday … the the Razorbacks took the opener at Lindsey Nelson Stadium with a 6-2 win on Friday night and then followed that with a 4-3 win on Saturday and an 11-7 victory on Sunday … the lone blemish on the Hogs’ record this week was a 5-3 midweek loss at Oral Roberts where Jake Dugger’s ninth-inning bid for a three-run home run was hauled in up against the left-center field wall … Arkansas hit .289 as a team against the Volunteers and averaged seven runs per game … the pitching staff posted a 4.00 ERA with the starters hurling 20.2 innings over the weekend and allowing just six earned runs … the Hogs also played their best defense of the season with just one error in the three-game series for a .991 fielding percentage … the only error of the weekend came on a misplayed cutoff that allowed a Vol runner to advance to second base … Arkansas’ 7-2 conference record marks the best start to Southeastern Conference play in school history, just ahead of the 1999 team that started 6-3 in league action and finished 22-8 and league champions … Arkansas also opened up a two-game lead in the SEC West over Ole Miss … the Hogs came through in the clutch at the plate all weekend … they converted nine of 11 chances (.818) with a runner on third base and less than two outs … UA also continued its hot hitting with runners in scoring position, going 10 for 23 (.323) … the Razorbacks were even better with two outs, hitting .385 (15 for 39) with five two-out RBI … the Diamond Hogs also ran well with five stolen bases in seven tries, while limiting the vaunted Tennessee running game, allowing just two stolen bases in four attempts … UA is hitting .306 with runners in scoring position this season and .290 with two outs … Nick Schmidt threw his second complete game of the season on Friday night to improve to 6-0 on the season … it was his fifth-career complete game and his second all time against the Vols … he allowed just four hits and two runs while striking out nine and retiring seven of nine leadoff hitters … Schmidt leads the SEC with a .163 opponent batting average … he also moved into second place all time at Arkansas with 291 strikeouts and is just 10 shy of school record-holder Matt Carnes (1995-97) … Duke Welker started on Saturday and turned in his four straight quality start, working 6.2 innings and allowing three runs on five hits … Dallas Keuchel made the best start of his career on Sunday, working a career-high five innings … he surrendered just one run on five hits with five strikeouts and one walk … Logan Forsythe continued his hot hitting against the Volunteers with a .357 average (5 for 14) with a double, home run and three RBI … he also kept his SEC-batting average above the .400 mark at .405 … Jeff Nutt produced the Razorbacks second-best batting average of the weekend, going 4 for 11 (.364) with a home run and three RBI … Matt Willard led the way with a .375 average and two RBI … the Hogs were only hit by two pitches over the weekend to move into a tie for eighth all time at Arkansas with 61 … Casey Coon did not get a lot of hits, but continued to find ways to drive in runs with four RBI over the weekend to give him 40 on the season … on the career record watch Danny Hamblin is third in at bats (811), seventh in hits (242), tied for second in home runs (42), tied for 10th in runs scored (169), tied for third in RBI (184), third in total bases (427), tied for sixth in walks (110) and tied for third in extra-base hits (98) … Dugger is second all time in walks (144), 12 back of Tim Thomas’ school record of 156 and 10th in hit by pitches (23) … Schmidt is tied with Charlie Isaacson for fifth in career starts (43), tied for sixth in career wins (23), sixth in innings pitched (275.1) and sixth in ERA (2.68).

Pitcher of the Week Nominee

Nick Schmidt * Junior

St. Louis, Mo./Vianney High School

· Nick Schmidt improved to 6-0 on the season with a complete-game win over Tennessee at Lindsey Nelson Stadium in Knoxville.

· It was his second complete game of the season and the fifth nine-inning effort of his career. It was also his second complete game against Tennessee.

· Schmidt allowed just two runs on four hits with nine strikeouts to lower his season ERA to 1.83. He retired the leadoff hitter in seven of his nine innings to hold the Volunteers speedy lineup at bay.

· His nine strikeouts moved him past Denny Walling for second place on Arkansas’ career strikeouts list with 291. He is 10 shy of Matt Carnes’ (1995-97) school record of 301.

· The Vols four hits lowered Schmidt’s opponent batting average to an SEC-best .163.

· The Razorbacks improve to 9-0 in Schmidt’s starts this season.

Next Week

The Razorbacks return to the friendly confines of Baum Stadium for a season-long nine-game home stand beginning with a two-game series with Northern Colorado. Both games against the Bears are scheduled for 7:05 p.m. The Razorbacks then host its first SEC Western Division foe with the Mississippi State Bulldogs coming to Baum Stadium for three games over the weekend.

Tuesday, April 3: Northern Colorado at Arkansas, 7:05 p.m.

Wednesday, April 4: Northern Colorado at Arkansas, TBA

Friday, April 6: Mississippi State at Arkansas, 7:05 p.m.

Saturday, April 7: Mississippi State at Arkansas, 2:05 p.m.

Sunday, April 8: Mississippi State at Arkansas, 1:35 p.m.