BASKETBALL
Arkansas-Oklahoma State set for Jan. 28
FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas’ basketball team will play at Oklahoma State on Jan. 28 in the Big 12/SEC Challenge, the SEC office announced Tuesday.
No tipoff time has been set, but the game will be televised on ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU.
Other challenge games that day will be Kansas at Kentucky, Texas at Georgia, Baylor at Ole Miss, Texas A&M at West Virginia, Florida at Oklahoma, Iowa State at Vanderbilt, Kansas State at Tennessee, Auburn at TCU, and LSU at Texas Tech.
Arkansas is playing in the challenge for the third consecutive year. The Razorbacks lost at Iowa State and beat Texas Tech at home the previous two seasons.
FOOTBALL
Hogs out of Texas camp
The Arkansas football coaching staff will not work an off-campus football camp that had been scheduled for June 9 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
The Razorbacks coaches had originally been scheduled to cohost the satellite camp with Texas A&M-Commerce, but the latter school pulled out last week. Abilene Christian was in position to take the co-host spot, according to The Dallas Morning News. With Arkansas no longer in the picture, the camp will not be held, the newspaper reported Tuesday.
The Razorbacks are scheduled to co-host a camp in Little Rock on June 5 with Arkansas State and also be involved with a camp in South Florida along with Florida Atlantic University on June 13. Other camp ideas still are being discussed, according to UA officials.
— Tom Murphy
TENNIS
Lysa in action at NCAAs
Arkansas’ Yuliya Lysa will take on Tulsa’s Saana Saarteinen today in the first round of the NCAA women’s tennis singles bracket at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center in Tulsa.
A senior from Kiev, Ukraine, Lysa is ranked No. 21 heading into the championships while Saarteinen, of Tampere, Finland, is ranked No. 86.
The two have played twice this season. Saarteinen took a 3-6, 7-6, 7-6 victory in the quarterfinals of the ITA Central Regional Championship in Stillwater, Okla., on Oct. 15. Lysa was ahead of Saarteinen by a score of 7-6, 4-2 when the Golden Hurricane clinched their first-round match at the NCAA Stillwater Regional on May 13.
Lysa, a left-hander who missed seven matches while recovering from a broken left arm, posted a 13-6 dual match record, including a 9-4 mark at No. 1 singles, and defeated four top 25 players this spring.
— Tom Murphy
BASEBALL
UA signees honored by Gatorade
Two Arkansas baseball signees have been named their state’s Gatorade Player of the Year.
Pitcher Evan Lee of Bryant and shortstop Cole Stobbe of Omaha (Neb.) Millard West High School were named their state’s recipient Tuesday. Both signed with the Razorbacks in November and will play for Arkansas next season if they don’t sign professionally.
Lee was a two-way player for Bryant, which won the Class 7A state championship Friday at Baum Stadium in Fayetteville. Lee hit a three-run home run during the game and was named finals MVP.
It was on the mound that Lee made his mark for the Hornets, however. The left-hander went 9-0 with a 0.54 ERA and 80 strikeouts in 52 innings as a senior.
Stobbe was a star at the plate as a senior, helping Millard West to a state runner-up finish in Nebraska’s Class A. Stobbe had a home run and three RBI in the state championship game, and he finished a triple shy of hitting for the cycle.
He finished his senior year batting .437 with 14 home runs and 43 RBI. He also drew 26 walks, scored 51 runs and stole 6 bases.
HIGH SCHOOLS
All-Star coaches announced
The coaching staffs for the Arkansas High School Coaches Association All-Star baseball, softball and soccer games were announced Tuesday.
Bryant’s Kirk Bock and Huntsville’s Greg Harris will coach the East and West baseball teams, respectively.
The softball head coaches will be Pocahontas’ Jerry Sharp for the East and Mena’s Ray Hunter for the West.
For soccer, the boys head coaches are Nettleton’s John Proffitt (East) and Hot Springs’ Cory Sturdivant (West). The girls’ head coaches are Beebe’s Beth Pond (East) and De Queen’s Erik Smith (West).
Bock’s East baseball staff will consist of Lionel Myers of Wynne, Charles Brown of Armorel and Shane Fullerton of Harding Academy. Harris’ West baseball staff will consist of Lance Spigner of Horatio, Shohn Doty of Springdale and Stephen Sprick of Dierks.
Sharp’s East softball staff includes David Horton of Marion, Todd Finley of Bald Knob and Josh Wright of Calico Rock. Joining Hunter’s West softball staff are Kevin Sullivan of Vilonia, Tiffany Taylor of Rogers Heritage and Jason Golden of Magnet Cove.
Proffitt’s East boys’ soccer staff will consist of Jeff Davis of West Memphis, Walter King of Searcy and Miguel Mondragon of Hamburg. Sturdivant’s West boys’ soccer staff will consist of Craig Bentley of Mena, Stan Cooper of Lake Hamilton and Stephen Peck of Rogers.
Pond’s East girls’ soccer staff will consist of Kerry Castillo of Cabot, Joseph Maxwell of Heber Springs and Kelly Young of Russellville. Smith’s West girls’ soccer staff will consist of Don Earnest of Dardanelle, Richard Rogers of Malvern and Steve Stover of Texarkana.
The games will be played on the campus of the University of Central Arkansas in Conway.The softball doubleheader will be played June 21 at 5 p.m. at Farris Field. Bill Stephens Complex will host the soccer doubleheader at 5 p.m. June 22.