March 2, 2001
Charlie Shields
Staff Writer
At first, a baseball tournament in Minnesota in early March
might not seem like such a good idea.
Or a fair one, for that matter, considering the University of
Minnesota will be hosting three warm-weather schools: the University
of Miami, San Diego State University and the University of Arkansas.
The weather will not be a factor though, because the games will
be played in the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, home of Major League
Baseball's Minnesota Twins.
The Gophers, Hurricanes, Aztecs and Hogs will take the field this
weekend for the Hormel Foods Baseball Classic in Minneapolis,
Minn.
In 1999, the Hogs competed in the Oscar Mayer Baseball Classic
at the Metrodome. The Hogs went 1-2 in the tournament, beating
host school Minnesota and then losing to Georgia Tech and Cal
State -Fullerton.
The Hogs will face Minnesota [4-5] at 6:30 p.m. tonight. Last
season, the Golden Gophers were the champions of the Big 10 Conference
and were ranked No. 24 in Baseball America's preseason poll, though
they are currently unranked. Arkansas leads the overall series
with the Gophers, 3-1.
Players to watch are Minnesota's third baseman Jack Hannahan,
who is batting .429 with one HR and nine RBIs; outfielder Sam
Steidl, who is batting .391 and has three RBIs; Luke Appert, second
baseman and designated hitter, who is batting .378 and has six
RBIs; shortstop Scott Welch, who is batting .367 and has six RBIs;
and pitchers Ben Birk, Mike Kobow and CJ Woodrow, who are expected
to start this weekend. Kobow has 16 strikeouts in 15.2 innings.
The Hogs play San Diego State at 7 p.m. Saturday. The Aztecs [8-5],
who are picked to win the Mountain West Conference this season,
will be facing the Hogs for the first time.
Players to watch for San Diego State are second baseman Carlo
Cota, who is batting .396 and has 16 RBIs; and outfielder Anthony
Gwynn (son of San Diego Padre's outfielder Tony Gwynn), who is
batting .373, has five RBIs and five stolen bases.
Also, catcher Brian Manfred is batting .364 and shortstop Taber
Lee is batting .347 with 10 RBIs and 10 stolen bases.
The Aztecs will throw Marcos Mendoza against the Hogs. He is 1-1
with a 4.6 ERA and 20 strikeouts in 15.2 innings. Other starters
are Chris Hartshorn and Rob Harrond.
Royce Ring is 4-0 and has one save, despite pitching just 5 2/3
innings so far. He has a 0.00 ERA and six strikeouts.
The final game of the tournament for the Hogs will be at 11 a.m.
Sunday against the University of Miami. The Hurricanes are 12-3
and are ranked as high as No. 4 (Baseball America poll). Arkansas
has never beaten the 'Canes in a three-game overall series.
Miami players to watch for are shortstop Javy Rodriguez, who is
batting .418 and has 15 RBIs and 14 stolen bases; right fielder
Kevin Mannix, who is batting .345 and has 13 RBIs; and center
fielder Mike Rodriguez, who was named a third-team All-American
by Baseball America and is batting .321 with 11 RBIs.
The Canes will start pitcher Tom Farmer against the Hogs. He is
3-0 with a 3.57 ERA and has 19 strikeouts in 22 2/3 innings. Other
starters are Kiki Bengochea [2-0, 1.37] and Brian Walker [4-0,
3.21].
The Hogs [8-3] are ranked No. 21 in the Collegiate Baseball poll.
Last weekend, they swept a three-game series with Eastern Illinois
6-2, 10-4 and 17-4.
They dropped a game Tuesday to Northwestern State, (La.) 8-4.
The starters for the Razorbacks will be Layne Berry (0-1, 2.53)
Friday against Minnesota, Scott Roehl (0-0, 7.71) Saturday against
San Diego State and Charlie Isaacson (2-1, 3.26) against Miami
Sunday.
Other Hog players to watch include relief pitcher Josh Merryman,
who is 2-0 and has yet to give up an earned run in nine innings
pitched.
He also has nine strikeouts. Shortstop Tigger Lyles is batting
.478, catcher Kyle Washburn is batting .389 with 11 RBIs, designated
hitter Scott Crossett is batting .333 and third basemen Cody Clark
is batting .325 with 11 RBIs. Second baseman Brett Hagedorn leads
the team in RBIs with 16 and has a .318 batting average.
The Razorbacks return to Baum Stadium Tuesday and Wednesday for
a two-game series with the University of Evansville and open Southeastern
Conference play on the road against South Carolina.
The Gamecocks are currently ranked No. 4 in the nation by Collegiate
Baseball.
March 5, 2001
Charlie Shields
Staff Writer
MINNEAPOLIS - Arkansas picked up its fourth loss Friday, 6-0,
to Minnesota but redeemed itself Saturday with a close win over
San Diego State.
Gopher pitcher Mike Kobow [1-1] pitched a shutout, scattering
five hits and five walks and taking advantage of four double plays
turned by his defense to pick up his first win of the season.
Taking the loss for Arkansas was Layne Berry. He struck out nine
batters and walked just one in 6 1/3 innings pitched. It was the
second straight loss for the Razorbacks [8-4], who are No. 21
in the latest Collegiate Baseball poll.
Leading the offense for the Gophers was Scott Welsh and Josh Holthaus,
who each had two RBIs.
For the Hogs, Nick Pitts had two hits and Cody Clark, Brett Hagedorn
and Michael Conner had one hit apiece.
Arkansas left seven base runners stranded in the game, including
leaving the bases loaded in the second inning.
The Hog bullpen had been solid but did not get the job done against
Minnesota. Matt Dotson and Peyton Nelson threw consecutive wild
pitches, allowing runs in the eighth inning. The runs were charged
to reliever Jeremy Rankin, who was taken out earlier in the inning.
The game was the second game of the Hormel Foods Baseball Classic,
which was hosted by Minnesota [5-5] and played in the Hubert H.
Humphrey Metrodome, home of Major League Baseball's Minnesota
Twins. The University of Miami beat San Diego State University
in the first game 8-6.
In the Razorbacks' Saturday match-up with San Diego State University,
a spill over crowd of 7,223 from the Miami-Minnesota game watched
the Hogs beat the Aztecs 6-4.
Freshman pitcher Scott Roehl, a Wisconsin native, had a contingent
of family and friends there to cheer him and the Hogs on, including
four shirtless guys with H-O-G-S spelled out on their chests.
Roehl [1-0] picked up his first win of the season by allowing
just one run on four hits. He walked three and struck out three
in five innings pitched.
Josh Merryman [2-0] got his first save of the season. He pitched
four strong innings, giving up three runs on five hits, striking
out five, including the side in the ninth.
For San Diego State, Chris Dunwell [1-2] took the loss. He pitched
seven innings and gave up just four hits, but the Hogs took advantage
of timely hitting, which they sorely needed in the Friday game,
and scored four runs.
In the eighth, after walking outfielder Cliff Crouse, who was
making his first start for the Razorbacks, Dunwell was replaced.
Conner then sacrificed Crouse to second. Clark walked, and Hagedorn
struck out.
Kyle Washburn then hit a two-strike pitch off the left center
field wall. When all was said and done, Washburn had an inside-the-park
home run and three RBIs.
Washburn was 2-4 in the game with a double, a home run and four
RBIs. Crouse took advantage of his start, going 1-2 with a double,
a RBI, a run and a walk.
The Aztecs stole five bases in the game and took advantage of
the potent one-two punch of Anthony Gwynn and Taber Lee to score
four runs.
Gwynn was 3-5 and scored three runs. Lee was also 3-5 and had
all of the Aztecs' RBIs. Gwynn was also 3-5 in the Aztecs' first
game, an 8-6 loss to Miami Friday afternoon. Lee was 2-5 in that
game.
The Hogs' game against the Aztecs was the fourth game of the tournament.
The third game was a 10-1 win for Miami over Minnesota.
There was a scary moment for the Gophers in the third inning,
when Gopher pitcher Ben Birks was hit in the face by a line drive.
Birks suffered facial fractures and was taken to the hospital
for tests.
The Hogs host Evansville for a two-game series Tuesday and Wednesday
at Baum Stadium. Arkansas travels to South Carolina next weekend
to open SEC play with a three-game set against the Gamecocks.
This story was printed in the Arkansas Traveler, the UA student newspaper.