Hogs back in top 15 of polls

Hogs back in top 15 of polls

Arkansas as high as No.

15 in USA Today poll

UA Media Relations FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Arkansas baseball pulled off its first sweep at home against an SEC opponent since 2012 last weekend after taking three-straight from Auburn to pull even in conference play at 3-3. The national polls took notice of that performance and bumped the Razorbacks up as high as No. 15 in the nation heading into its midweek game on Tuesday at No. 16 Oklahoma State.

The No. 15 ranking comes from the USA Today/ESPN Coaches Poll, up three spots from a week ago. The Razorbacks are also up to No. 16 in the National College Baseball Writers’ Association poll, four spots from last week, No. 18 in both the DIBaseball.com poll and PerfectGame.org poll and No. 22 in Baseball America.

The Hogs are now 18-6 on the season and an even 3-3 in SEC play with the Cowboys of Oklahoma State (17-7) up next. Arkansas returns to Baum Stadium this weekend with a three-game SEC series against Missouri (14-12, 06 SEC) starting on Friday.

Senior shortstop Michael Bernal is coming off a huge week at the plate where he hit .455 in 11 at-bats with two home runs and seven RBI. The two home run game came on Saturday against Auburn as part of a 14-7 series-clinching victory. It was the second time this season that Bernal had two home runs in one game (vs. No. 9 Houston, Feb. 27), becoming the third Razorback to achieve the feat since 2012.

Tuesday’s game in Stillwater, Okla., is set for a 6 p.m. first pitch at Allie P. Reynolds Stadium and will be broadcast on Fox Sports- Plus. Tickets are available online by visiting OKState.com.

Arkansas’s three-game series with Missouri starts on Friday with a 6:30 p.m. first pitch, followed by Saturday’s game two at 7:30 p.m., and then Sunday’s finale at 12:30 p.m. All games can be seen online on WatchESPN. Saturday and Sunday’s game will be on television on the SEC Network.

A full roundup of where the Razorbacks rank in the national polls is listed below. To see the full poll, click the name of the publication you would like to see.

Publication Ranking Last Week

DIBaseball.com 18 20 NCBWA 16 20 USA Today/Coaches Poll 15 18 Collegiate Baseball.com NR NR PerfectGame.org 18 22 Baseball America 22 22

By John Thomas