April 26, 2001
The University of Kentucky baseball team will play host to Arkansas this weekend in a three-game Southeastern Conference series starting on Friday, April 27, at Cliff Hagan Stadium.
With three weekend’s left in the regular season, both Kentucky and Arkansas are looking to move up in the conference standings and secure a spot in the upcoming SEC Tournament, held May 16-20 in Birmingham. UK enters the weekend series with an overall record of 18-27, 5-16 in the SEC. Arkansas carries an overall record of 21-25, 6-15 in conference play.
The Wildcats won their most recent SEC home series by taking two of three games from Vanderbilt. UK’s bats have come alive of late, posting double-digit hits in 14 consecutive games. Gordon Tyler leads the Wildcats’ attack with a .344 batting average. Brad Pickrell, Spencer Preston, Caleb Brock and Vince Harrison are also hitting above .300. Seth Morris continues to rank among the conference leaders in home runs. Morris, a sophomore outfielder/pitcher, has blasted 14 round-trippers on the season and has connected for a long ball in two of the Cats last three games.
Jon Hooker and Scott Wade spearhead a talented corps of Wildcats hurlers. Hooker has rung up 35 strikeouts in only 28 1/3 innings of work and carries a team-leading ERA of 3.18. Wade, UK’s most consistent starter, has posted an ERA of 3.31 in 73 1/3 innings this season as a sophomore.
UA fell to Oklahoma State in its most recent contest by one run. The Razorbacks picked up a big win last Sunday in their series finale with #10 Tennessee. Jeff Fletcher’s .359 average leads the Hogs. Kyle Washburn has driven in a team-leading 34 runs. As a team, UA is hitting .283.
Arkansas leads the all-time series with Kentucky 15-10. UA picked up a 2-1 series win over the Wildcats last season in Fayetteville. UA’s last visit to Lexington came in 1998, with the home-standing Wildcats taking two of three.
Friday’s game will get underway at 6:05 p.m. EST, and will be televised on the Comcast Cable Network. Fox Sports Net South will be broadcasting Saturday’s game, with first pitch at 4:09 p.m. Dave Neal will handle to play-by-play with UK alum Larry Conley providing color commentary. Sunday’s game will not be televised.
In addition, all of UK’s SEC contests, home and away, can be heard locally in Lexington on WLXO-96.1-FM with Drew Deener as the voice of Wildcat baseball.
