Sports briefs

FOOTBALL CLEMSON DT KELLY ANNOUNCED TRANSFER TO RAZORBACKS

Former Clemson defensive tackle Xavier Kelly has announced plans to play his final season at Arkansas after entering the NCAA transfer portal on Jan. 18. He made an official visit to Fayetteville in January. “The visit went very well,” Kelly said after his visit. “I can see the whole university is surrounded by great people that are trying to change the program around, so it was a good visit.”

Kelly, 6-4, 305 pounds, originally chose Clemson over offers from Georgia, Oklahoma, Kansas State and Alabama out of Wichita (Kan.) East High School in 2016.

He redshirted as a freshman. He played in eight games as a redshirt freshman and recorded 8 tackles, one tackle for loss and one sack.

Kelly had 9 tackles, one tackle for loss, one sack and one forced fumble in 93 snaps in 10 games as a sophomore. Last season, Kelley had 9 tackles, one-half sack and 2 pass breakups and one recovered fumble in 87 snaps in 10 games.

He was an ESPN 4-star prospect, the No. 19 defensive end and No. 154 overall prospect in the nation as a senior in high school.

— Richard Davenport

BASEBALL KJERSTAD, NOLAND HONORED BY SEC

The No. 5 University of Arkansas’ season-opening sweep of Eastern Illinois led to individual honors for junior outfielder Heston Kjerstad and sophomore righthander Connor Noland and an historic first for the Razorbacks on Monday.

Kjerstad was selected a co-SEC player of the week and Noland was the SEC pitcher of the week as chosen by the SEC office, giving the Razorbacks their first sweep of those honors since joining the SEC for the 1992 season.

Kjerstad, who hit .583 with four home runs and 10 RBI against the Panthers, also pulled down a national player of the week award from Collegiate Baseball. The 6-3, 205-pounder from Amarillo, Texas, had two home runs in both Friday’s 5-1 season opening win and Sunday’s 12-3 series finale to give him six multi-homer games. He went 7 for 12 at the plate, with all of his hits producing runs, and had a titanic slugging percentage of 1.667.

Noland did not allow an earned run on two hits and one walk in 62/3 innings of the season opener and struck out a career-high 11, half of the Eastern Illinois batters he faced.

Noland held the Panthers to an .095 batting average while turning in the eighth game of his career with one or fewer earned runs allowed.

The Razorbacks (3-0) host Gonzaga for a four-game set at Baum-Walker Stadium beginning Thursday at 3 p.m. The Zags went 2-2 in the Sanderson Ford College Baseball Classic in Surprise, Ariz., falling 7-1 to BYU in the opener, then splitting a pair of games against Oregon State before rallying for a 5-4 win against New Mexico on Monday.

UAPB FALLS ON THE ROAD

Trasity cq Totten of the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff missed a three-pointer at the buzzer and Alcorn State escaped with a 57-54 victory on Monday night in Lorman, Miss.

Kirdis Clark made 1-of-2 free throws with three seconds left to put Alcorn State up 57-54. After a turnover by the Lady Lions, Kyeonia Harris fouled Cayla Obillo cq, who missed both attempts. Totten grabbed the rebound and UAPB called a 30-second timeout with one second left. Totten got one last shot, but her attempt was no good.

Harris led UAPB (4-19, 3-10 SWAC) with 10 points. Clark led Alcorn State (11-14, 7-6) with 18 points.

SOFTBALL

— Tom Murphy

HOGS-UAPB TICKETS ON SALE TODAY

Tickets for the University of Arkansas’ nonconference game against the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff at Dickey-Stephens Park in North Little Rock will go on sale at 6 p.m. today.

The game, scheduled for April 29, is the 11th contest that the Razorbacks will play at the home of the Arkansas Travelers, the Class AA affiliate of the Seattle Mariners.

Tickets will be available only at travs.com. General admission tickets, including berm, bleachers and standing room, are $15. Reserved seats are $18 and box seats are $20. Fans that purchase tickets for the berm and standing room are allowed to bring blankets and folding chairs to the game.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL GREEN EARNS SEC AWARD

Arkansas junior catcher Kayla Green won the SEC softball player of the week award, the league announced Monday.

Green is the second Razorbacks catcher to earn the award, joining Jennifer Cirigliano in 1997.

During the Razorbacks’ 3-0 weekend at the Florida Gulf Coast Invitational, Green went 6 for 9 offensively. She had three hits against Furman and three RBI against Illinois-Chicago on Saturday. Then on Sunday, she had two hits, including a RBI double against Florida Gulf Coast.

LYON SHORTSTOP WINS HONOR

Lyon College softball shortstop Megan Micke was named player of the week by the American Midwest Conference on Monday.

Mickie led the Scots to a 4-0 record this past week, including a pair of victories each over Peru State College and Bethany College. Micke batted 625 (10-for16), to go along with 3 doubles and 1 home run. In the Scots 9-0 victory over Peru State College on Sunday, Micke went 3-for-3 with 1 double, 1 home run, scored 4 runs, had 3 RBI and stole 1 base.. On the week, she scored 7 runs, had 5 RBI and stole 2 bases.

MEN’S GOLF ARKANSAS 14TH IN CALIFORNIA

The University of Arkansas is in 14th place with a 293 after the first round at The Prestige in La Quinta, Calif.

Pepperdine leads with a 275 while Texas Tech is in second place with a 278.

Individually, Tyson Reeder is in fifth place with a 68 after posting five birdies on his back nine. He trails Joey Vrzich of Pepperdine by two strokes. Noah Goodwin of SMU, Sahith cq Theegala cq of Pepperdine and Thomas Hutchison of UC Davis all have a 67.

The 54-hole tournament resumes today.

WOMEN’S GOLF RAZORBACKS NINTH IN MEXICO

The University of Arkansas is in ninth place with nine holes left in the LJGA Collegiate Invitational in Guadalajara, Mexico. Arkansas shot a 292 in the second round. Through the first nine holes of the third round, the Razorbacks shot a 145 and LSU by 22 strokes.

Individually, Maria Hoyos cq shot a 67 in the second round and is tied for eighth with a 178.

The tournament concludes today with the final nine holes.