Courtesy: Zach Lawson, Athletic Media Relations

BATON ROUGE, La. – For the third time in his career, Brett Eibner hit two home runs to lead the offensive charge as the No. 13 University of Arkansas baseball team beat third-ranked LSU, 6-3, Friday night at Alex Box Stadium in Baton Rouge, La, in the Southeastern Conference opener. Eibner posted a pair of two-run home runs and had four RBI. Mike Bolsinger worked seven strong innings to pick up his third win of the season.

“We’ve talked about staying calm because this is just the first of 30 (conference games),” head coach Dave Van Horn said. “You never know how the team will react after a long trip and playing in a new park we’ve never seen before. I thought we handled it pretty well. We left too many runners on base and couldn’t get that big single in the game but we got the big home runs.”

James McCann collected the first hit of the game for either team with a single that nearly got past a diving Leon Landry, LSU’s center fielder. The Razorback catcher was stranded at first as LSU starter Austin Ross sat down the next two hitters to get out of the inning. McCann tied a career high with three hits Friday.

The Tigers cracked the scoreboard first in their half of the second. With two outs, Tyler Hanover tripled off the wall in left center for the Tigers’ first hit of the game. Matt Gaudet immediately followed with a home run into the right-field seats to give the home team an early 2-0 advantage.

Arkansas scored four runs in the top of the fourth to grab the lead. Leading off the inning, Zack Cox extended his season-opening hitting streak to 16 games with a single to right field. The streak is the second longest under Van Horn. Andy Wilkins, the Hogs’ next hitter, tied the score with a towering two-run shot to left field, his seventh big fly of the season. After a one-out McCann single, Eibner put Arkansas on top, 4-2, with a line-drive home run down the line in left field. It was his third home run of the season.

Wilkins’ blast against LSU gives the junior slugger 34 career home runs and moves him into a tie for seventh with Jake Dugger (2004-07) on the program’s all-time list. Wilkins finished the game 2-for-3 at the plate with a double to go along with his home run and two runs scored.

The Razorbacks had a chance to add to their lead in the fifth. With runners on first and second and no outs after a back-to-back errors by the Tigers’ infield, Cox looked to push a run across the plate with a shot headed for center field, but Austin Nola, the LSU shortstop, dove to his left to snag the liner out of the air and collected himself to double Vinson off second with a toss to the bag.

With two outs, the threat continued after an intentional walk to Wilkins gave the Hogs runners on first and second but Ross struck out Monk Kreder to escape the inning without allowing a run.

Wilkins led off the seventh with a double to right center. Kreder laid down a sacrifice bunt to move Wilkins over to third with one out. McCann grounded out to the shortstop for the second out but with the infield playing in on the grass, Wilkins was unable to score. Eibner took care of the run with his second home run of the game, a monster shot that went over the scoreboard in left field. The two-run home run upped the Arkansas lead to 6-2.

After running into trouble in the LSU second, Bolsinger was strong for the Hogs. The McKinney, Texas, native tied his career high with seven innings and struck out four Tigers. After Gaudet’s home run, Bolsinger gave up just two hits over his final five innings of work. Friday’s game was Bolsinger’s first start in an SEC game since March 14, 2009; he worked 2.1 innings in that game and did not figure into the decision.

LSU tacked on a third run in the ninth on a sacrifice fly by Gaudet, but DJ Baxendale, on in relief of Bolsinger, capped his two-inning effort and sealed the game by picking Hanover off at second base.

Game two of the conference-opening series is set for a 3 p.m. start Saturday at Alex Box Stadium. Drew Smyly (2-0, 1.80 ERA) is penciled in to get the start for the Hogs and LSU will counter with Joey Bourgeois (2-1, 4.74 ERA). The contest will be aired on Cox Sports Television (channel 119 in Northwest Arkansas). For more information and continued coverage, log on to ArkansasRazorbacks.com.

Senior Alain Bailey won his first NCAA individual title for No. 8 Arkansas Razorback men’s track and field on day one of the NCAA Indoor Championships, at the Randal Tyson Track Center on Friday.

After day one of competition and six events scored, Arkansas leads the team race with 24 points. Florida is second with 20 points and Florida State is third with 14 points.

“What Alain and Tarik did in the long jump was really a great start for us,” Bucknam said. “They did their best to get this team going and scored some big points for us. Unfortunately, Scott MacPherson had an off day and that happens. I know he wanted to end his career on a high note but he has done some much for us during his time and he has a lot to be proud of.”

Bailey won the long jump with a mark of 26-9.75, matching his personal best from the 2010 SEC Indoor Championships. He earned his fourth All-American honor, third indoors, and won Arkansas’ eighth NCAA Indoor long jump title, the first since Melvin Lister’s 2000 victory. Bailey’s mark is also the second-longest recorded by a Razorback to win an NCAA Indoor title.

“This feels so great,” Bailey said. “I’ve been waiting four years for this and I finally got it. I’m ecstatic right now. I was able to jump a really good series, very consistent. I had three jumps over 26 feet and felt really relaxed. I started tiring after that third jump but it held up.”

Sophomore Tarik Batchelor picked up a bronze finish in the long jump and the duo scored 16 points for the Razorbacks. Batchelor’s best jump of the day measured 26-0 and the three-time NCAA qualifier earned his first All-America honor.

“They gave unbelievable effort,” assistant coach Travis Geopfert said. “When you come into a national championship ranked first and third, you obviously have a big target on your back. To be able to come out of it first and third, that just shows you how good they’ve been at handling the pressure. It was great they could do this at home. The fans were great, all the teammates were down there clapping and cheering. It created an exciting atmosphere for an exciting competition.” Read More

By Jim Davis on March 12, 2010

When his fired-up team trailed 1-0 at the end of the first period after out-shooting Fredonia State 18-4, Arkansas coach Rick Desjardins feared the worst. And it came to pass. Despite playing one of their best third periods of the season, the Razorbacks lost for the third time in the D3 National Tournament.

After Arkansas closed to within 3-2 on Justin McDowell’s goal with about eight minutes left in regulation play, Fredonia scored on a centering pass from the corner that ricocheted off a leg and into the Arkansas net, giving the Blue Devils a 4-2 win and sending the Razorbacks home winless in their first trip to nationals.

“When we made it 3-2, I thought we would catch them. We had a five-minute [power play] and couldn’t score,” said Desjardins. “Unfortunately, we didn’t represent the SEC very well this weekend.

“We didn’t have our hands around the net today. We couldn’t put pucks in the net. We had a lot of opportunities, but it didn’t show up on the scoreboard.”

Desjardins said he was concerned about the Razorbacks’ play leading into nationals. “We didn’t really play well the last three weeks. We played just well enough in the [South Regional Tournament] and the same in the [SECHC Playoffs.]”

The coach said he reminded his disheartened players that there was only one senior on the team. “We’ll be back,” he told them. “Let’s take what we learned from this and go forward.”

Arkansas finished the season with a 27-7-0 record that included a 22-game winning streak.

Catch the latest college hockey updates at HockeyYall.com.

By Jim Davis on March 10, 2010

Brendan Desjardins, who is backstopping the Arkansas Razorbacks at this week’s D3 National Tournament, is the antithesis of Clemson’s Dave Werner, Catholic’s Kevin Pecca, Kennesaw State ’s Jerry Holden and the other Top Guns of the South. While they try to bury the puck in the net, Desjardins does everything in his power to keep it out.

He’s doing a very good job of it, too. During the regular season he was No. 1 in goals against average (2.33) among D3 goalies with at least 1,000 minutes of playing time and fifth in wins (14, many of them against D2 teams). And he has five shutouts this season.

Even in the Razorback’s 7-1 loss to Colorado today Desjardins played well. Two of the goals against came on power plays and two caromed off players into the net. “Our goaltender stood on his head,” said Arkansas coach Rick Desjardins, who also is Brendan’s dad. “We had 20 shots on us in the first period and only trailed 1-0.”

Brendan’s strong play this season came after a shaky start for the Arkansas junior, who is on the Dean’s List. It had been two years since he last played organized hockey, with a junior team in Dallas.

“He was a bit rusty,” says Rick, a goaltender himself in the past. “Four of our five losses were in December or earlier. If he played then the way he did later, we would’ve probably won those games . . . The goals he gave up in our last four games [prior to nationals] were all good goals, and three of the four were on the power play.”

An aggressive goaltender who challenges shooters, Brendan is also a classic butterfly netminder. At 6-1 he gives the shooter very little net to shoot at. “He has excellent fundamentals,” says Rick, referring to Brendan’s ability to square up to the shooter, cut down angles and control rebounds.

“A lot of goalies are good athletes, or do one thing or another well. He is a balanced goalie; no weaknesses. He’s very difficult to score against on penalty shots or breakaways.”

Rick says Brendan works with a handful of young goalies in the Dallas area and is an instructor at hockey schools and camps, which helps him identify areas in his own game to work on.

On Dec. 12, Brendan proved he was all the way back from his hiatus from the rink when the Razorbacks faced Missouri State ’s top D2 team on the road. Arkansas won 4-3 and Brendan stopped 44 of 47 shots. “There were 1,500 people in the stands and he was the best player on the ice,” says dad.

“It’s nice to be going into nationals now. He’s on top of his game, and that’s good for our team.”

Read more at HockeyYall.com.

By Jim Davis on March 10, 2010

The Arkansas Razorbacks are expecting a significantly greater effort and performance from themselves tomorrow than they managed today in falling behind 5-0 after two periods on their way to a 7-1 loss to Colorado at the D3 National Tournament in Estero, Fla.

Arkansas, the No. 3 seed in Pool C, will face No. 1 seed Hope College of Michigan at 11 a.m. Colorado, the No. 2 seed, will meet No. 4 seed Fredonia State at 8:30 a.m.

“We have 15 freshmen on this team and they were deer in the headlights for two periods,” said Arkansas coach Rick Desjardins afterwards. “You can’t take anything away from Colorado, but we played teams as good as them [during the regular season and in the D3 South Regional Tournament and the SECHC Playoffs]. If we had played our game it would have been a one-goal game.”

It was for 20 minutes. The Buffaloes fired 20 shots at Arkansas’ netminder, Brendan Desjardins, in the first period and scored once. The Razorbacks thought they had the equalizer late in the period, but the goal was waived off as a kicked-in goal.

“In the second period we came out with two really good shifts before they got a shot on net, but then they scored a flukey one,” said Desjardins.

Down 5-0 late in the third period, the Razorbacks pressed to spoil a Colorado shutout and take something positive into tomorrow’s game with Hope. They succeeded with just 11 seconds to go. “That’s what we remember. The last 11 seconds is what we’re going to focus on,” said Desjardins.

The coach singled out leading scorer Brad McMahon for being the lone Razorback who played with the speed and intensity of the Buffaloes and praised his fourth line – B.J. Kellagher, Jacob Larison and Austin Morehead — for playing its best game of the season. “Now the other three lines have to step up tomorrow,” said Desjardins.

“The boys have watched some of the other games and seen that there are 16 good teams here. Whoever shows up will do well.”

Read more at HockeyYall.com.

Go to woopig.net’s message board, and check it out. I’ll wait here. If you are perusing the site anywhere near the time of this writing, hockey threads and posts are all over “Razorback Discussion”. And that makes me happy. Woopig has raised money for the team, money it badly needs, as the athletes are footing the bill for everything. Also, the multiple threads have helped bring attention to the club program, and their quest for a national championship. All the way around, the focus on the Ice Hogs at woopig has been a positive. For woopig. And that hockey team. And Razorback fans in general. But the story isn’t always told on one level – in fact, in the real world, it rarely is.

What I’m about to say is presented as a hypothetical, because I don’t want to open any cans of worms. It is purely for demonstration purposes, so please don’t allow your mind to wander too far away.

For the purposes of this discussion, let’s assume the most dire warnings related to man-made global warming are true. You don’t have to really believe it, but let’s stipulate it just for a practice in hypotheticals. I’m the kind of guy, I hate any temperature below 75 degrees or so. Hate it. I prefer the climate of Kuwait to the climate of Colorado. So, I am ecstatic at this time of the year, when temps start going back up. The first day the temperature crosses 80 is a holy day of the year for me. I’ve been told the Earth has warmed by 1.7 degrees or so in the last few years. Me? I’m down with an extra 1.7. Hell, make it 6.7. I would love it if every day was just a little bit warmer. The problem is, if you’re stipulating that the worst-case scenarios are true, there is a bigger concern than my own comfort. While I am very happy for the days that are a little bit warmer, the bigger picture is that those good days are warnings of catastrophes to come. The story isn’t always told on one level.

Go back and look at the message board again. Notice that people aren’t nearly as enthusiastic to talk about basketball as they are hockey. What conversation DOES center around basketball seems to fall mostly into one of two camps – the “Fire Pel Now” camp, and the “I just don’t care anymore” camp. There is a rising sea of discontent, and it threatens to drown a once-proud program – not waterlog it, or drench it, but drown it. As in “dead”. When club hockey becomes the emotional outlet for Razorback fans in the last days before the SEC basketball tourney, no matter how good that may be for those young men on skates, it is a dangerous warning sign for what was once the pride of the Natural State.

A few days ago, the basketball team played a game against Ole Miss. At stake was a .500 record in conference, a first-round bye in the aforementioned tournament for a weary team, and, perhaps, the long-term fate of the head coach. And no one really seemed to care – at least not until AFTER the team had collapsed in the last few moments, a perfect metaphor for the last 2 years of Razorback basketball. The concern is just not there. Actually, I don’t think that’s entirely true. The deluge of letters following the loss to Ole Miss shows that the people DO still care. Perhaps it is only hope that is no longer there. Perhaps it is easier to follow a team without the expectations. A team without the history, and the prestige, and the resources. After a decade that has left the fan truly convinced that the powers-that-be no longer care about matching the expectations to the history, prestige, and resources, who can blame him for no longer holding on to the hope that excellence will some day return? Maybe it’s easier at this point to just cheer for the kids who are playing for the love of the game.

I’m not a “little Ol Arkansas” guy. I don’t believe that this state is so small, poor, rural, and/or geographically remote that it cannot put forth contenders in the major sports. I do believe that these goals are impossible if the state is not together. There are those who would tell you that the examples of the message-boards don’t really tell us all that much – that message boarders aren’t the best representation of the average fan. And I agree with the sentiment somewhat, though not for the boilerplate reasoning behind it. Message boards are a pretty accurate cross-section of the society they draw from, in my experience. I have met several fellow message boarders, and the range of occupations, personalities, politics, etc. has been every bit as diverse as anything you will find at Razorback Stadium on a Saturday in the Fall. I count among my message board “friends” a principal, several attorneys, several vets and current military members, salesmen, tech guys, Arkansas media members, Razorback lettermen from various sports (including the 3 big ones: baseball, basketball and football), hell, even mayors and ghost hunters. Where message board posters diverge is in their dedication to the program. This may rankle some, but the most diehard fans this University has are people like the ones you see posting on woopig. And they don’t care about basketball anymore. They would rather watch hockey, a game many of them freely admit they know little to nothing about. If we’ve lost them, where do we think the casual fan is by this point?

The song of the canary is a beautiful thing. The focus on and support for the hockey team has been a beautiful thing. Unfortunately, Razorback basketball has been poisoned with discontent and apathy, and I’m afraid Mr. Long is mistaking the last desperate cries of the canary for attention with that of a creature expressing its passion for life. I wish nothing but the best for the hockey team, and hope that the support continues well on into the future. This doesn’t mean we can ignore the dangerous message that lies beneath. The mine that is Razorback Basketball is on the verge of closing. It’s time to excise the poison, and allow the air to clear.

Form letters to fan outrage is not the answer. The answer is in the outrage. It’s a funny thing, passion. You either do what you can to harness it, or you become its prey. It’s time for Jeff Long to decide whether he will be made great by the moment, or if he will allow it seal his own tomb.

http://www.breastfedmoonshine.com/home/2010/03/10/canaries-on-ice/

By Brandon Marcello
Wednesday, March 10, 2010

FAYETTEVILLE — Ever seen a pig on ice?

It may sound awkward and provide a strange image, but the Arkansas ice hockey team looks just fine on the rink.

The University of Arkansas club hockey team, comprised of 25 students, will attempt to make school history today in Germain Arena in Fort Meyers, Fla.

It’s the site of the club’s first ever appearance in the national championship tournament, set aside for 16 of the best teams in the nation.

The Arkansas athletic department has been supportive, but is limited in its capacity to provide anything more than a verbal showing of support to the hockey club.

“There’s not a whole lot we can do,” Arkansas Athletic Director Jeff Long explained.

An online fundraiser on Woopig.net began March 4, and on the eve of Arkansas’ first game in the national championships Wednesday, contributors at the site had raised $1,599, said Steve Jackson, owner and operator of Woopig.net.

“The bottom line is, pretty much anybody that has a Razorback on their jersey is going to be somebody we want to support,” said Steve Jackson, owner and operator of Woopig.net “… If they’ve got Razorback on their jersey, we’re going to check it out and we do what we can to help them, even if it’s only exposure.”

The message board Woopig.net, known for its members’ sharp wit and unfiltered takes on sports, has several topics discussing the team and its national championship hopes. The interest in the team — and the sport, for that matter — on the boards began with the Olympics, Steve Jackson said. From there, interest grew and the recognition for the team couldn’t be overlooked.

“People need to know about it,” Jackson said. “Sure it’s a club sport and all, but people still need to know about it. … We’ve got a Razorback team that is competing for a national championship.”

Read Brandon’s entire article HERE.

DONATE TODAY to the Razorback hockey club by visiting their website at RazorbackHockey.com. Or, you can also donate HERE.

Arkansas vs Colorado game thread here.

Saturday, March 6, turned out to be a gorgeous day for a fantastic rugby match between Heart of America DII college champs University of Arkansas and Great Plains champs Creighton University.

Played in Fayetteville, Ark., the match kicked off with both teams champing at the bit.

Collin Jackson

Creighton made a hard drive down the pitch and with a penalty against Arkansas, they were able to make the kick for a 3-0 lead. Arkansas responded with a strong push back and was able to capitalize on a penalty – flyhalf Charles Ajarrista doing the honors.

Both teams continued to battle for field position, and it seemed like the game would hinge on who could commit the fewest penalties in their end.

Then Arkansas broke through. Ajarrista gathered a kick to touch and took a quick lineout to himself. Creighton were caught napping and the flyhalf tok the ball all the way in. Ajarrista’s conversion gave Arkansas a 10-3 lead.

He added two more penalties to make it 16-3 at halftime.

At the beginning the second half, Creighton made a sterling opening drive that resulted in their first try of the game to close to gap to 16-10. But Ajarrista kept the scoreboard ticking over with another penalty. 19-10 Arkansas.

With Creighton making valiant push after push against the Arkansas try line, Arkansas’ stout defense and some lucky penalties on Creighton allowed them to hold off the hammering.  With fifteen minutes left in the half, Ajarrista scored yet another try and conversion for Arkansas.  Creighton made one final drive, but a turnover afforded Arkansas the ball and allowed wing Collin Jackson to chase down a chip kick and bring home one final try for Arkansas. That sealed it, 31-10 in a game that was far closer than the score indicates.

http://www.rugbymag.com/news/colleges/men-dii-college/arkansas-wins-battle-of-conference-champs.aspx

Coach Rick Desjardins and his staff at Arkansas hope a strategic decision they made well before the start of the season will continue to pay off this week at the D3 National Tournament in Estero , Fla.

Desjardins and Co. scheduled 16 games with D2 teams in order to prepare their Razorbacks for the quality of competition they would face in the postseason. It’s worked so far. Arkansas won twice at the South Regional to qualify for nationals and won twice again to capture the SECHC title at the end of February.

At the home rink of Florida Gulf Coast , the top-ranked team in the South Region most of the season, the Razorbacks probably will be tested as they have not been this season. They’re in a pool with Hope College of Michigan, the No. 1 seed in that pool; Colorado, No. 2; and Fredonia State, No. 3. Each team plays the other three to determine which one advances to the semifinals.

The Razorbacks open up against Colorado Wednesday at 11 a.m. The Buffaloes were 15-8-1 during the regular season, including two wins and three losses against four other teams at nationals. “From the tape we’ve seen, they’re a solid forechecking team that likes an up-tempo game,” says Desjardins. “They’re a lot like us, five or six scorers deep.

“Hope is like that, too. They probably have 2-1/2 to three scoring lines. Most likely, the goalies will be the difference again.”

Desjardins thinks the Razorbacks just might sneak up on Colorado and the rest of the nationals field. “I think we may be a surprise to some people,” he says. “We might be a bit of an enigma to them. Some might say we’re lucky and not in as tough of a region. Hopefully, they’ll underestimate us and we’ll catch them off guard.”

The 10-day gap between the SECHC tournament and the beginning of the D3 National Tournament has enabled the Razorbacks to get completely healthy. They’ve continued their weekly schedule of two or three practices. “I believe they’ve got one solid week of hockey left in them,” he said.

So do their followers, who have grown in number and enthusiasm as the Razorbacks marched to a 25-6-0 record. When they practiced Sunday in Little Rock prior to boarding a bus for the 20-hour trip to south Florida, several hundred fans were at the rink to give them a heartfelt “Woo pig Sooie” send-off.

Read more about Razorback Hockey at HockeyYall.com

YOUR Arkansas Razorback Hockey team is heading to the ACHA National Hockey Championship in Fort Myers, Florida this Sunday, March 7. On the way, they’ll be stopping in Little Rock.

Here’s your chance chance to come see the team everyone is talking about, and send them off to Nationals with a show of support they deserve.

The team will leave Fayetteville by bus Sunday at 3:00 pm sharp, and will put in a 1.25 hour practice in Little Rock, and then continue driving all Sunday night to Fort Myers.

Sunday’s Little Rock practice will be held at Arkansas Skatium, located at 1311 South Bowman Road (intersection of Kanis and Bowman). The team will be on the ice from 6:00 p.m. until 7:15 p.m., so plan on getting there before then.

Woopig.net encourages any and all fans, alumni, etc. to come out. Come show your support, learn about the team, and let them know you care. [[Show as slideshow]] ]]> http://woopig.net/index.php/2010/03/razorback-hockey-practice-pep-rally-sunday-march-7-at-skatium-in-little-rock/feed/ 5