Razorbacks get on the ball at the right time

Thursday, May 22, 2014

It appears the University of Arkansas Razorbacks baseball team is finally playing like the Diamond Hogs.

The Razorbacks beat No. 2 seed Ole Miss 2-1 on Wednesday on the second day of the SEC Tournament to make them 8-1 in their past nine games.

The only time the Hogs lost during that stretch was 6-5 to Texas A&M in 10 innings in the final game of their regular-season series in Fayetteville.

Coming out of the regular season series with Ole Miss, after losing 2 of 3, the Razorbacks were 30-20 and were looking a little doubtful for the SEC Tournament, but a sweep of Missouri -- as much expected as needed -- to close out the regular season obviously helped pump some life into the Hogs as they headed for Hoover, Ala.

They opened with a victory over Texas A&M on Tuesday, then defeated a very good Rebels team to advance to today's game against a talented LSU team that run-ruled Vanderbilt 11-1 on Wednesday.

The Hogs may not host an NCAA regional tournament, but they appear to be a lock to make the field.

The Razorbacks opened Wednesday's game with three consecutive hits but were held to one run. Eric Fisher gave the Hogs a 2-0 lead in the sixth when he singled, stole second and scored on a wild pitch.

Ole Miss scored in the seventh, which ended a streak of more than 15 innings of shutout baseball thrown by the Hogs' pitching staff.

Ole Miss, which is expected to host an NCAA regional next weekend, now faces Vanderbilt in an elimination game.

Meanwhile, the Razorbacks are finally playing like the Diamond Hogs.

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Donald Sterling, the Los Angeles Clippers owner who has been banned from the NBA for racially biased remarks, has said he will take his case to court if other NBA owners vote him out as an owner.

Sterling, an attorney himself, should know all he is going to do is rack up some major legal fees and still lose the team.

The NBA by-laws are specific that a three-quarters vote can remove any owner at any time.

Sterling, who apparently used to be really smart, probably needs to go away quietly. He certainly doesn't need to do any more interviews that make him look even zanier than the world originally thought.

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This is the time of the year when yours truly actually starts to enjoy the NBA.

There are four teams left, and while they are all good and fun to watch, it appears that the NBA championship will be exactly what most predicted weeks ago.

San Antonio may not sweep the Oklahoma City Thunder (my favorite team because that's who Derek Fisher plays for), but the Spurs are a veteran team and tougher than a claw hammer on a hickory nut.

The Miami Heat lost the first game but evened the series by going to two of their big-money players, Dwyane Wade and LeBron James, who scored the first six points in a critical 12-2 run that helped the Heat even the series with Indianapolis in a game played on the Pacers' home court.

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Speaking of Derek Fisher, his name is being mentioned with a couple of head coaching openings, including New York, where Phil Jackson was recently named president of the Knicks.

Jackson coached Fisher when they were with the Los Angeles Lakers and the two became close friends.

A couple of days ago, when his name emerged as a candidate for the Knicks job, Fisher said he would not be talking with Jackson until his season was finished.

Fisher is finishing his 20th season as an NBA player. The graduate of Little Rock Parkview and UALR is making $1,399,507 as a player this season.

It is expected he would be offered three times that to coach the Knicks.

Sports on 05/22/2014