FAYETTEVILLE — After three weeks of effective play that reinvigorated Arkansas ’ SEC Tournament hopes and improved its NCAA Tournament resume, the Razorbacks find themselves right back where they started. Qualifying for the conference tournament is in doubt again after Alabama won its first two games at Baum Stadium, 11-6 on Saturday and 11-7 on Friday. The Razorbacks entered the weekend just a game behind in the loss column for the SEC Western Division lead. Now they

1 are 9-13 in the SEC, 2 / 2 games behind West co-leaders Ole Miss and Alabama and chasing LSU, Kentucky and Tennessee for the final spots among the top eight teams that qualify for the SEC Tournament.

Arkansas completes its weekend series with Alabama today, then plays host to South Carolina next weekend before wrapping up SEC play at Mississippi State the following week.

“Right now every game is a must-win for us,” sophomore first baseman Tim Smalling said. “We’re fighting to stay alive and to keep our playoff hopes alive. If we’re going to get in the postseason, we have to win a bunch of ball games, and that’s what we’re going to have to do.”

LSU, after sweeping a doubleheader from Kentucky on Saturday, has won its past five conference games and Alabama is on a four-game conference winning streak. Improved play by the Tigers and Crimson Tide is putting the pressure on the Razorbacks to do the same.

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“We’re frustrated in every aspect,” left fielder Casey Coon said. “We have to come out with the mentality if anything is a must-win, it’s tomorrow. Every game counts here. You can’t look past one game or it’ll come back and bite you in the butt.”

Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn agreed that Alabama’s play the past two days was reminiscent of how his team performed in winning consecutive series against Florida, Tennessee and Ole Miss to get back into postseason contention. But he said he didn’t think the Crimson Tide was playing desperate baseball either in the two victories over Arkansas.

“That’s just the way the game works,” Van Horn said. “[Alabama’s ] playing good. Their pitchers are getting out of jams and they’re getting a lot of big hits.”

To Alabama’s credit, the Crimson Tide’s 12-7 SEC record since an 0-4 start is the secondwinningest in the conference behind Georgia’s 13-5-1 mark.

The Razorbacks’ 3-8 start in the SEC all but eliminated any margin for error. They went 6-3 over the next nine games, but the results of the past two days in Fayetteville and around the conference drop Arkansas back into a precarious position.

The road to recovery begins at 1: 05 p. m. today.

“We had three really good weekends in a row, and I hate that we’ve lost this series already,” Smalling said. “There are a couple teams moving up towards the top, but we have to come back, put everything together and play good baseball all around.”