Baseball moves up in polls

FAYETTEVILLE – After opening the season with an impressive three-game sweep of Delaware State last weekend, the Arkansas baseball team has moved up in the national rankings, released on Monday.The Razorbacks are ranked in three of the four major college baseball polls. Arkansas jumped four spots to No. 20 in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association poll, while the Razorbacks moved up five spots to No. 27 in the Collegiate Baseball top 30 poll. Arkansas is also 24th in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches Poll.The story of the opening weekend was the Razorback pitching staff. Arkansas pitchers posted a 0.67 earned run average during the three-game series, allowing just two runs and striking out 37 Hornet batters. The 37 strikeouts in the series was the most for Arkansas pitching since the Razorbacks had 39 strikeouts in a three-game series against Auburn on May 18-20, 2006. Arkansas posted two shutouts in the series, marking the first time since 1988 that the Hogs had multiple shutouts in a weekend series.Arkansas’ starting rotation of DJ Baxendale, Geoffrey Davenport and Brandon Moore combined to throw 16 innings and allow just two runs, while striking out 19 batters. Baxendale and Davenport each set new career-highs in strikeouts with seven and eight, respectively. Moore made his collegiate debut on Sunday and tossed six shutout innings with four strikeouts.The Razorback bullpen did not allow a run in 11 innings pitched. Cade Lynch and Ryne Stanek each pitched four innings and earned a save last weekend. Lynch struck out seven in four shutout innings, while Stanek did not allow a hit in his four innings, while striking out six. Barrett Astin, Trent Daniel and Randall Fant each turned in a shutout inning in Sunday’s series finale.The Arkansas offense also enjoyed a strong first weekend as the Razorback plated 24 runs over the three-game series. Kyle Robinson drove in a team-high six RBI and finished the weekend with a .583 batting average, including a double and a triple. Jarrod McKinney hit .625 during the series with a RBI and four runs scored. Bo Bigham and James McCann each hit .333 in the series, while Matt Reynolds hit a team-high three doubles and drove in four runs, while batting .308.The Razorbacks continue their season-opening, 11-game homestand this weekend with a three-game series against Utah. Game times are scheduled for 3:05 p.m. on Friday, 1:05 p.m. on Saturday and 12:35 p.m. on Sunday. Tickets for all three games of this weekend series are available and can be purchased by calling 1-800-982-HOGS (4647), by visiting the online ticket center at ArkansasRazorbacks.com or on gameday at Baum Stadium.