Marquee Matchup Draws Big Crowd To Baum

FAYETTEVILLE -- As expected, No. 9 Arkansas drew its largest crowd of the season when No. 1 Vanderbilt came to Baum Stadium on Friday night.

Primarily the reason so many came was to watch the matchup of left-handers David Price of Vanderbilt and Nick Schmidt of Arkansas.

Price went six innings and Schmidt went seven. Price left with the scored tied at 5-5 while Schmidt had a 7-5 lead.

The 9,078 who showed up on a warm spring night was the second most in regular-season history in Baum Stadium.

The previous regular-season single-game attendance was 9,227 against Ole Miss on May 20, 2005.

The largest crowd ever to see an Arkansas baseball team play in Baum Stadium was 10,027. That was set on June 12, 2004 in the Fayetteville Super Regional against Florida State.

Arkansas drew 9,338 the day before, also against Florida State.



Nice Catch

Arkansas right fielder Sean Jones made perhaps the catch of the game in the fifth inning. With two outs and one on and the score tied at 5-5, Vandy designated hitter Andrew Giobbi sent a long fly ball to right.

Jones, backpedaling, then turning to his left, made a snow-cone catch in the web of his glove to end the inning.



Veterans Honored

Members of the Arkansas Army National Guard's Battery C, 1st Battalion, 142nd Fires Brigade were honored in pregame ceremonies Friday night.

The veterans returned to Northwest Arkansas from a tour of duty in Baghdad, Iraq, on March 7. They assisted in shutting down the Abu Gharib confinement facility and played a vital role in the opening of Camp Cropper near the Baghdad International Airport.

Sgt. First Class David Duncan and the unit came to Baum Stadium to present a special Razorbacks flag to Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn and his team. The flag, signed by all members of the unit, was flown in Baghdad to boost morale.

Van Horn and the Razorbacks presented a team-signed batting helmet to the unit in appreciation of their efforts for protecting the country and representing the state of Arkansas.



Pop Ups:

Price threw 40 pitches in the first inning. He also had a season-high four walks Friday night ... Logan Forsythe extended his hitting streak to eight game Friday night. He's hit in 18 of his last 19 games, including a 10-game hitting steak ... The last time the Razorbacks played the nation's top-ranked team was during the 2001 season. The last No. 1 team the Hogs squared off with was LSU on May 4-6, 2001, with Arkansas sweeping the series.