OUTDOORS
Sale of surplus turkey permits delayed
The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission pushed back its online sale of leftover WMA quota turkey hunting permits until 8 a.m. Thursday.
The sale was scheduled to begin 8 a.m. Monday. The AGFC was closed Monday because of inclement weather, so nobody was in the building to activate the computerized sale, said Keith Stephens, the AGFC’s assistant director of communications.
“It’s because nobody was in the office,” Stephens said. “Our concerns were that if the leftover sale opened today and a problem did arise, there would not be anyone at the AGFC to assist them. Since the vendor is also closed, then no one would be working in their office if technical issues arose.”
This is the second consecutive year that surplus quota turkey permit sale didn’t go as planned. In 2013, the sale began hours before the announced time of 8 a.m. due to a computer programmer’s error. By 8 a.m., the most highly coveted permits had already been sold to buyers who checked the system early. Stephens said the postponement of this year’s sale is unrelated.
“In this case, you can’t control the weather,” Stephens said. “We also wanted to make sure that people who didn’t buy their permits online, did not get an unfair advantage. We’re just trying to make it fair for everyone.” - Bryan Hendricks
BASEBALL Arkansas tied for 24th
Arkansas was tied for 24th in the first USA Today Coaches poll released Monday.
The Razorbacks, 7-2, are also ranked 27th in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Poll and by Collegiate Baseball.
The Razorbacks swept Appalachian State and Eastern Illinois before losing two of three to South Alabama. They travel to Berkeley, Calif., to play in the Cal Baseball Classic against San Francisco 4:30 p.m. Friday, Tulane 3:30 p.m. Saturday and a doubleheader against California beginning at 3 p.m. Sunday.
Merten honored by Sun Belt
UALR catcher Drew Merten went 5 for 7 over three games last week and was named Sun Belt Conference player of the week by the league office Monday.
The junior from Parker, Colo., also drew three walks and was hit by two pitchers as the Trojans beat Louisiana Tech, Indiana-Purdue-Fort Wayne and Illinois-Chicago.
He scored two runs against Louisiana Tech, hit a two-run single in a 3-1 victory over IPFW, then hit a two-run double against UIC. He’s hitting .318 in his first season with the Trojans.
UAM jumps to 11th
Arkansas-Monticello climbed to 11th in this week’s D2Baseball-News.com Top 30 and to No. 12 in the latest Collegiate Baseball Newspaper Top 30.
The Boll Weevils (11-4) went 2-1 against Henderson State over the weekend.
BASKETBALL UCA’s Miles honored by Southland
Central Arkansas guard LaQuentin Miles was named the Southland Conference men’s basketball player of the week Monday.
Miles averaged 26.5 points and 13.0 rebounds in helping to lead the Bears to victories over Sam Houston State and Lamar last week. He had a career-high 30 points and 14 rebounds in a 76-69 victory over Lamar on Saturday, and had 23 points and 12 rebounds in a 80-71 upset of Sam Houston State on Thursday.
Sports, Pages 15 on 03/04/2014