Diamond Hog Update: March 2

Those of you who have followed Razorback baseball over the past few years no doubt know that the Hogs have a reputation for falling behind and then squeaking out a win in the late innings, sometimes against non-marquee opponents (Colin Kuhn's 2-out, 2-strike grand slam in the bottom of the 9th to win the series against Kentucky on Easter Sunday last season comes to mind).  The Hogs may have swept the Utah Utes, but they had to come from behind twice to do it.  While Utah may (or may not) end up being quality wins by season's end, they certainly don't look the part right now, as they're currently 0-6 on the season.

Highlights:
* Freshman phenom Ryne Stanek moves to the starting rotation for Game 1, after having been a reliever during the Delaware St. series.  He pitches 5 innings of no-hit baseball before giving up 2 runs to the Utes in the 6th.

* Arkansas falls behind 1-4 during the top of the 6th inning of Game 2, but tack on a run in the bottom of the inning and score 3 more in the 7th to secure a come-from-behind 5-4 victory.

* The Hogs come alive in Game 3 (or, Utah runs out of pitching) with a 10-1 drubbing.  A 1-1 game through 4 innings, the Hogs straight-up abuse Utah's relievers by posting 3 runs in the 5th and 6 runs in the 6th.  A couple of Utah's pitchers will be returning to SLC with positively embarrassing season ERAs of 54.00 (2 ERs in 0.1) innings and the ever-rare "undefined" (that is, 2 ERs without recording a single out).

* I'm becoming increasingly concerned about the new bats.  Utah hit at least 2 HRs (and maybe even 3) during the series.  Meanwhile, the Hogs still just have 1 through the entire season.

Up next for the Diamond Hogs is a midweek series with McNeese State (spoiler alert: we've already lost Tuesday's game), followed by a 3-game home stand against Wisconsin-Milwaukee.  The Hogs jumped up several spots in all the polls (as high as #16 in the USA Today poll) after the sweep of Utah, but their SOS is doing them no favors in the RPI (currently in the 90s).  Still lots of baseball to be played, though.