Baseball Notebook - March 23

Arkansas Baseball Notebook

March 23, 2009Week: 4-1Overall Record: 16-4

Tuesday, March 17: Arkansas 7, Nebraska 3Wednesday, March 18: Nebraska 7, Arkansas 4Friday, March 20: Arkansas 3, Auburn 2Saturday, March 21: Arkansas 10, Auburn 6Sunday, March 22: Arkansas 12, Auburn 6

Noting the RazorbacksThe Razorbacks (16-4, 6-0) went 4-1 on the week, splitting a mid-week series with the Nebraska Cornhuskers then going on the road to sweep the Auburn Tigers … Arkansas begins the Southeastern Conference season 6-0 for the first time in school history … The Razorbacks’ series sweep against Auburn was its second straight SEC sweep and is the first time since 1999 that Arkansas has accomplished back-to-back sweeps … Arkansas’ six-game conference winning streak is its longest since it won seven straight in 2004 … The series victory is also just the fourth time in Arkansas’ history that it has won the first two series it played in conference action … Arkansas’ sweep of the Tigers is its first in Auburn in program history … Head coach Dave Van Horn reached a pair of milestones in his Razorback career over the weekend as he earned his 100th career SEC victory as well as his 250th as Arkansas’ head coach … As a team, the Razorbacks hit .309 for the week and in the Auburn series stepped up their play by hitting .336 … Three Razorbacks (Chase Leavitt, Andy Wilkins, Collin Kuhn) batted better than .400 over the five games while another five Arkansas hitters were over the .300 mark … On the mound, Arkansas used 14 different pitchers and assembled a 3.20 ERA with eight players owning ERAs at 2.25 or below … Senior Chase Leavitt returned to the top of the Arkansas lineup in the Arkansas’ second game of the week and after getting his swing down was fantastic against Auburn over the weekend as he batted .545 with six hits, five walks, three runs scored and three RBI not to mention robbing a home run in a tight ball game on Saturday … Jacob House also had a good series for the Razorbacks batting .444 in two games against the Tigers … Ben Tschepikow hit .429 for the weekend, but had his 11-game hitting streak snapped in the mid-week series … Tschepikow also hit his career best seventh home run of the year on Friday night … Last week’s SEC Freshman of the Week Collin Kuhn had another big week for the Razorbacks, batting .412 over the five games with seven hits and seven runs scored … Kuhn’s on-base percentage for the week was .545 from both the leadoff and no. 9 positions … Sophomore Andy Wilkins found his stroke again and put together a pair of three-hit ballgames. Wilkins batted a team high .450 for the week with nine hits, a double, two home runs, three runs scored and four RBI

Hitter of the Week NomineeAndy Wilkins * Senior * INFBroken Arrow, Okla./Broken Arrow* Hit .450 for the week with a team best nine hits (a double and two home runs), three walks, three runs scored, four RBI and a stolen base. Against Auburn he batted .385 with five hits, scored a run, drove in another and walked twice.* Had two three-hit games on the week, one against Nebraska and one against Auburn.* Had a hit in every game this week to post his longest hitting streak of the season, five games.* On the year is third on the team in batting average (.361), second in RBI (20) and leads the club in home runs (8), slugging percentage (.764), doubles (5) and walks (19).* Helped Arkansas to its best start in conference play since joining the SEC in 1992.

Player AVG GP-GS AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB SLG% BB HBP SO GDP OB% SF SH SB-ATT PO A E FLD% This Week .450 5-5 20 3 9 1 0 2 4 16 .800 3 0 4 0 .522 0 0 1-1 41 7 0 1.000

Season .361 20-20 72 19 26 5 0 8 20 55 .764 19 1 20 1 .500 0 0 2-2 121 23 5 .966

Pitcher of the Week NomineeDallas Keuchel * JuniorTulsa, Okla./Bishop Kelley HS* Was 1-0 with a 2.25 ERA in one start, going a season best eight innings, scattering nine hits, two runs, two earned, no walks and four strikeouts.* Paced Arkansas to its best start in SEC play by outdueling Auburn’s Grant Dayton in a classic SEC Friday night matchup.* Kept a potent Auburn offense that is known for its long ball potential to eight singles and a double.* Remains unblemished on the year with a 3-0 overall record and has a 3.00 ERA in five starts.* The Razorbacks are a perfect 5-0 in Keuchel’s starts this season.* Has walked just three batters in 33 innings while striking out 30.* Has yielded just seven extra base hits on the year.

Player ERA W-L APP GS CG SHO/CBO SV IP H R ER BB SO 2B 3B HR AB B/Avg WP HBP BK SFA SHAThis Week 2.25 1-0 1 1 0 0/0 0 8.0 9 2 2 0 4 1 0 0 28 .321 0 2 0 1 0

Season 3.00 3-0 5 5 0 0/0 0 33.0 32 13 11 3 30 5 0 2 120 .267 0 4 0 2 3

Freshman of the Week NomineeCollin Kuhn * Redshirt Freshman * OFBeaver Dam Wis./Beaver Dam HS* Hit .412 for the week in five games against Nebraska and Auburn with seven hits and seven runs scored.* Three of his seven hits went for extra bases including his second triple of the year.* Against Auburn he had three hits in 10 at bats, walking twice, was hit by two pitches and scored four runs in the Razorbacks Saturday afternoon victory.* Was stellar defensively against the Tigers as he came through with three outfield assists during the series including two in the Friday night matchup. On Friday, from left field he threw one runner out at the plate and ended the game by cutting off a shot to the gap and firing a throw to second to catch the runner. On Sunday he hit a cutoff man who then got a runner who rounded third too wide.* On the year, Kuhn is batting .345 with 18 runs scored and has been effective no matter where he is in the lineup as he has hit first, second, sixth and ninth in the order.* Helped Arkansas to its best start in conference play since joining the SEC in 1992.

Player AVG GP-GS AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB SLG% BB HBP SO GDP OB% SF SH SB-ATT PO A E FLD% This Week .412 5-5 17 7 7 2 1 0 2 11 .647 2 3 4 0 .545 0 1 3-4 13 3 0 1.000

Season .345 18-14 55 18 19 4 2 0 7 27 .491 9 6 13 0 .486 0 3 4-5 29 4 0 1.000

Wednesday, March 25: Missouri St. at Arkansas, 6:35 p.m.Friday, March 27: Mississippi St. at Arkansas, 6:35 p.m.Saturday, March 28: Mississippi St. at Arkansas, 2:05 p.m.Sunday, March 29: Mississippi St. at Arkansas, 1:05 p.m.