I spoke with Dallas Keuchel on Sunday evening about his decision to sign with the Houston Astros instead of returning to Arkansas for his senior season. Naturally, he was excited about getting his professional baseball career started.

  Keuchel’s departure comes as no surprise. Even Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn assumed his star pitcher would turn pro after getting selected by the Astros in the seventh round of the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft.

  Here is the story that will appear in Monday’s edition of The Morning News about Keuchel’s signing. In it, the junior discusses how he considered coming back to Arkansas for his senior season and how the Astros offered him a signing bonus he couldn’t refuse.

  Arkansas ace Dallas Keuchel has thrown his last pitch for the Razorbacks.

  Arkansas officials have confirmed that Keuchel has agreed to sign with the Houston Astros, ending his collegiate career. The Astros selected the 21-year-old junior in the seventh round of Major League Baseball’s draft.

  Here is the press release that the university just sent out on Keuchel:

  Junior left-handed pitcher Dallas Keuchel signed a professional contract with the Houston Astros this weekend ending his three-year stint with the Arkansas Razorback baseball team.

  Keuchel, a seventh-round pick by the Astros, went 9-3 for the Razorbacks this season including a pair of wins at the College World Series.  He is scheduled to leave his hometown of Tulsa, Okla., on Monday and travel to Troy, N.Y., where he will join the Tri City Valley Cats of the New York Penn League.  Keuchel is scheduled to join the Valley Cats starting rotation in a couple of weeks after a pair of bullpen sessions and will be on a limited pitch count as he begins his pro career.

  In three years with the Razorbacks Keuchel played a prominent role in Arkansas’ pitching fortunes as both a starter and reliever.  He accumulated 19 wins and a 4.56 ERA over 234.2 in his time with the Razorbacks and his career totals rank just outside Arkansas’ all-time top 10.  His 2009 season was the best by a Razorback starter since 2007.

Good morning. Or make that good afternoon.

I spent a little more time than usual in bed this morning after being out at John McDonnell Field past 1 a.m. But after trying to get some sleep, I’m back out here for day two of the NCAA Outdoor Championships.

There’s a lot going on today. Ryan Malashock is in Omaha for the College World Series, where Arkansas will be practicing today and meeting with the media. Alex Abrams and I will be out here at track letting you know everything going on out here on day two.

Make sure you keep an eye on the blog for updates from both sides. We also have a special page set up for our track coverage here at at the NCAA meet. You can find it by clicking this link. And on our Twitter pages at @NWAOnlineHogs or @NWARobbie

We’ve got a few things worth reading in today’s paper if you haven’t seen them yet.

• Alex Abrams wrote a feature on Arkansas pitcher Dallas Keuchel and some of the struggles he has had lately.

• Paul Boyd handled our MLB Draft coverage. Four Razorbacks were selected on Wednesday.

We have plenty from track and field, too.

• On the men’s side, the Razorbacks got two of their three long jumpers into tonight’s final, Alex wrote. A little later, Scott MacPherson slipped through to the finals of the 3,000 steeplechase.

• The women’s team had to wait a long time to compete because of a three-hour rain delay. But once they did, Shelise Williams, pole vaulters Katie Stripling and Sarah Landau, and Denise Bargiachi advanced in their events.

Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn must have liked what he saw Wednesday from junior pitcher T.J. Forrest. On the Southeastern Conference’s coaches conference call Thursday, Van Horn said Forrest would return to pitching this weekend after resting last weekend.

The 6-foot-6 right-hander, Van Horn said, would either pitch in relief Friday or Saturday, or he would start Sunday’s game against the fifth-ranked LSU Tigers, his former team (2007).

“He’s rested and ready to go,” Van Horn said.

That means junior left-hander Dallas Keuchel will go on Friday night, as usual, and sophomore right-hander Brett Eibner will throw for the second straight Saturday.

Van Horn also talked about the challenges posed to No. 9 Arkansas by LSU. The Razorbacks have won five of their last six games. But they still sit a half-game behind the Tigers, who have won six straight themselves, in the SEC Western Division.

“We know what they have, we’ve been watching them,” Van Horn said. “They have great, great talent up and down that lineup and on the mound. They can hit, they steal bases with great athletes and they are really talented on the mound. They are way up there with strikeouts. We know what we are going to face.”

LSU coach Paul Mainieri said he was happy his Tigers team “got back on the right track” this past weekend by sweeping Auburn. LSU then beat Tulane 13-2 Wednesday night. He sounded like a coach who knew what kind of atmosphere the Tigers would encounter this weekend at Baum Stadium.

“It’s going to be a tremendous challenge,” Minieri said.

Minieri said he didn’t think LSU could afford to try and win any low-scoring games — “we need to put up some crooked numbers” — and also commented about enjoying competition against Van Horn.

“One thing that has struck me in my first two years in the league is that Arkansas plays so hard and plays fundamentally sound baseball,” Minieri said. “I like playing against Dave’s teams because they play the game the right way.”

Tennessee coach Todd Raleigh opened up the conference call and was asked who he favored in the LSU-Arkansas series. The Hogs took two of three from the Vols in Knoxville last weekend, and UT took two of three from LSU in Baton Rouge the weekend before.

“LSU is dynamic when you look up and down their roster,” Raleigh said. “And Arkansas just plays good baseball. They don’t do anything to hurt themselves and they know how to win.”

Eventually, Raleigh refused to choose a favorite.

“I’d have to give the edge to … that’s a tough call,” Raleigh said. “I don’t see a sweep in that series.”

Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn said Wednesday afternoon that he was still undecided on who would pitch for the No. 9 Razorbacks on Saturday and Sunday against No. 12 LSU.

Obviously, 6-foot-3 junior left-hander Dallas Keuchel will make his Friday night start as usual. As for the next two days, Van Horn said that 6-foot-4 sophomore right-hander Brett Eibner would start one game and that 6-foot-6 junior right-hander T.J. Forrest would start the other.

Forrest, played at LSU as a freshman, didn’t pitch this past weekend, meaning he didn’t throw on the weekend for only the second time this season. Forrest was simply resting a “tired arm,” but Van Horn said Forrest has looked better throwing the ball early this week.

“We’ve flip-flopped on it back and forth this week,” Van Horn said. “We’re going to see T.J. throw a little bit more today and see how he feels before we decide. We’ll know tonight or in the morning. He needed the weekend off and got the rest.”

Keuchel is 6-1 with a 4.30 ERA this season. Eibner is 4-2 with a 3.23 ERA, and Forrest is 2-3 with a 4.74 ERA.

Vanderbilt 7, Arkansas 0

We’re not at the end of 4th yet, but’s time for another update… Vandy has exploded for five more runs and five more hits here in the top of fourth and has handed Dallas Keuchel easily his worst outing of the season, if not of Keuchel’s Arkansas career. It’s now 7-0 Commdores and Keuchel has been lifted from the game with still just one out in the top of the fourth. For Arkansas, Christian Kowalchuk is now on the mound to attempt to slow down the Vanderbilt attack.

Just a note… it was suggested this was a trap series for the Razorbacks and right now it looks that way. The Commdores clearly have come out as the team more ready to play. They’re agressive at the plate, have gotten great pitching and have plenty of talent to hold on in this series opener. For the Hogs, winning this series will probably come down to taking the last two and that’s not going to be easy.

We’ll be back with another update at the end of the 5th… unless something crazy happens before then!!

Pregame

Finally made my way to Carolina Stadium and let me tell you folks, this place is pretty dang nice. Now I’m not saying it’s better than Baum Stadium (Heck, I haven’t even seen a game played here yet!). But the Gamecocks new pad does have some very cool features that even Baum is missing out on. For instance, I love the walk around concourse. If you’ve ever been to Arvest Ballpark in Springdale, it’s just like that one. Then they also have a great play area in right field for the kids here. That’s something I wish Baum would add! This Carolina Stadium also gets the nod for one super scoreboard. The video is unreal. We’ll wait until the game to determine which park is actually the best, but right now I’m still leaning towards Baum. Bigger, more suites, MUCH better parking and of course, the RBI girls!

As for today’s game, Dallas Keuchel goes against Carolina’s Sam Dyson in the series opener. It’s basically ace against ace tonight. Keucel is 4-0 with a 3.32 ERA, Dyson 4-1 with a 4.21 ERA.

Arkansas goes with a lineup of Chase Leavitt, Scott Lyons, Ben Tschepikow, Andy Wilkins, Jacob House, Brett Eibner, Zack Cox, Ryan Cisterna and Collin Kuhn.

And one last thing before we get started…the weather is perfect for baseball!

South Carolina 1, Arkansas 0 (End of 3rd)

Arkansas hitters haven’t come close to touching South Carolina starter Sam Dyson so far. Dyson has struck out five of the five nine he’s faced and has not allowed a base runner through the first three innings. On the other side, the Gamecocks took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first thanks to two quick hits off of Dallas Keuchel. Arkansas almost got out of the early jam with allowing a run, but a potential inning-ending double play grounder resulted in just one out when Ben Tschepikow’s throw to first base went wide, allowing a Gamecock runner to score on the play.

Arkansas 6, South Carolina 2 (End 6th)

The Razorbacks scored two runs in the fourth, one in the fifth and three more in the sixth to tak over this game a little bit. Scott Lyons belted his second home run of the season in the fourth inning and Zack Cox blasted a three-run shot in the sixth to give the Hogs a 6-1 lead at the time. On the mound for Arkansas, Dallas Keuchel has been solid and just worked out of a bases loaded jam in the bottom of sixth, giving up just one run. Keuchel has allowed two runs and six hits in six innings, with one walk  and three strikeouts.

As for the Carolina Stadium crowd, there’s not nearly the 9,000 in attendence we were promised. More like about 3,500 to 4,000. A great park no doubt. But no way these fans can match those back home at Arkansas.

Arkansas 6, South Carolina 4 (End 7th)

Mike Bolsinger relieved Dallas Keuchel on the mound with one runner on and one out in the bottom of the seventh and was treated rather rudely right off the bat. Gamecocks centerfielder Whit Merrifield slammed a two-run shot to right field off of Bolsinger, cutting the Razorbacks’ lead to 6-4. That’s where we stand now heading to the 8th as Bolsinger was able to buckle down and get the final two outs in the inning before giving up any more damage.

Arkansas 6, South Carolina 4 (Post game)

Bolsinger settled in and closed the door on Arkansas’ ninth SEC win, striking out the final five batters he faced. For the Hogs, the 9-1 start is of course the best ever in the SEC and puts them in great position for the rest of the weekend with Carolina now short on pitching. Dallas Keuchel improves to 5-0 on the mound and Sam Dyson fell to 4-2 before an announced crowd of 6,461 at new Carolina Stadium.