COLLEGE BASEBALL: Hogs cap weekend with sweep

Arkansas’ Collin Kuhn slides safely into third base during the Razorbacks’ 10-0 victory over Delaware State on Sunday at Baum Stadium in Fayetteville.
Arkansas’ Collin Kuhn slides safely into third base during the Razorbacks’ 10-0 victory over Delaware State on Sunday at Baum Stadium in Fayetteville.

— It was a good opening weekend for Arkansas’ new-look baseball team.

Freshman Brandon Moore of Van Buren pitched six scoreless innings in his college debut as Arkansas defeated Delaware State 10-0 Sunday to complete a three-game sweep before 5,207 at Baum Stadium. Kyle Robinson had three hits and five RBI to lead the Razorbacks, who posted two shutouts and outscored the Hornets by a combined24-2 in three games.

Bo Bigham hit the only home run of the series when he connected to left field in the eighth inning. Teams are playing this season with aluminum bats that have been modified to limit the number of home runs and to make the game safer by reducing the exit speed of batted balls.

“It’s a different kind of baseball, but we showed we can definitely swing the bats,” said Robinson, who hit a triple to drive in Arkansas’ first run. “The pitching was there all weekend but our offense was at its best today.”

Earning a home sweep was a good start for the Razorbacks (3-0), who must replace seven players who turned professional after last season. But the competition will get tougher than Delaware State, which went 13-36 overall last year while playing in the Mid-Eastern Atlantic Conference.

Arkansas will play 13 more non-conference games before opening SEC play March 18 at Auburn. The Razorbacks are off until Friday when they begin a three game series with Utah.

“We did a lot of things well, but we also made some mistakes,” Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn said in critiquing his team’s first series. “We’ll learn from those and try to get better week-to-week. Starting next weekend, we’ve got starting we’ve got 20 games in 28 days, so we’ll need to use a lot of people.”

Moore continued Arkansas’ strong pitching by holding Delaware State (0-3) to two hits in six innings. He was followed by Trent Daniel, Barrett Astin and Randall Fant, who threw one inning apiece to complete the shutout.

“Brandon gave us six strong innings and his pitch count was down,” Van Horn said. “We could’ve brought him back out again but we wanted to get three more guys, for sure, into the game.”

Arkansas collected 13 hits while holding Delaware State to three hits for the second consecutive game. Matt Reynolds and Jarrod McKinney each contributed two hits for the Razorbacks, who used 16 players on Sunday.

“It was a great first weekend, but it all comes down to league play,” Robinson said. “The SEC is where the best competition is and it’s our goal to get ready for that.”

Arkansas did not trail at any time against Delaware State and the Razorbacks jumped to a 3-0 lead on Sunday. Arkansas then finished with a flurry by scoring a combined seven runs in the seventh and eighth innings.

Bigham, who hit three home runs last year, led off the eighth with a home run to spark a four-run surge.

“The home runs will start coming,” Van Horn said.“I just want them to stay through the middle and hit line drives, but it was fun to get that first home run.”

Arkansas took the lead in the first inning when Collin Kuhn led off with a single and scored on a two-out triple by Robinson. Delaware State center fielder Troy Drummond slipped on the play and Robinson made it safely to third with a headfirst slide.

Arkansas baseball at a glance UP NEXT vs. Utah WHEN Friday, Saturday and Sunday WHERE Baum Stadium, Fayetteville ABOUT UTAH Utah was scheduled to play two games at California Sunday after the first two games were rained out. The Utes finished 23-28 last season, including 11-13 in the Mountain West Conference.

SHORT HOPS Arkansas freshman Dominic Ficociello started at third base Sunday after starting at first base on Friday. Matt Reynolds moved from third base to shortstop, where he began last season before being sidelined with injuries. ... Arkansas drew 5,207 fans on Sunday to set a record of 20,443 for a season-opening series at Baum Stadium.

THE WEEK AHEAD

TODAY off TUESDAY off WEDNESDAY off THURSDAY off FRIDAY vs. Utah, 3:05 p.m.

SATURDAY vs. Utah, 1:05 p.m.

SUNDAY vs. Utah, 12:35 p.m.

MONDAY off

Sports, Pages 13 on 02/21/2011

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