Manhattan report

Parents squirm in seats

Arkansas starting pitcher Randall Fant, top, throws to Bryant's Kevin Brown in the second inning of an NCAA baseball regional game in Manhattan, Kan., Sunday, June 2, 2013. (AP Photo/Jeff Tuttle)

MANHATTAN, Kan. - Arkansas’ pitching staff, even with its NCAA-leading earned run average, has endured many high-tension situations in a season filled with close, low-scoring games.

The players have coped well with the white-knuckle stress.

Their parents? That’s a different story.

“Everything’s pretty calm and relaxed until he steps on the mound and gets ready to throw,” Mark Stanek said of what it’s like to watch his son, Ryne, the Razorbacks’ ace right-hander. “We always joke about it. He seems pretty calm and under control and we’re going nuts over here.”

Said Lisa Stanek, the pitcher’s mother, “I’m nauseous the whole game.

I didn’t used to be, but the farther up he’s gotten, the more nervous it makes me.”

Debbie Moore, mother of Hogs reliever Brandon Moore, tracks her son’s pitches with an app on her smart phone, and she said that helps keep her nerves in check.

“I was an athlete myself, so I just don’t get that nervous,” she said, referencing her time at Van Buren High as a basketball, volleyball and track athlete.

Tom Daniel, father of reliever Trent Daniel, said his anxiety begins kicking in as soon as Trent begins warming up.

“When he runs down to the bullpen to start warming up, if I’m siting down, I’m up - immediately,” Tom Daniel said. “And I’ll start pacing.

“When he’s throwing, honestly, I don’t sit down very often.”

Joe Suggs, father of Hogs’ closer Colby Suggs, takes a different approach than Daniel.

“It’s nerve-wracking, but I try not to show it or let it take the fun out of the game,” Suggs said. “It’s still got to be fun. If it’s not fun, it’s not worth doing.”

Kerry Suggs said she burns the nervous energy her husband conserves when Colby is in the game.

“If I’m at home, I pace a lot,” she said. “I do not sit much. I’ll walk all around the house.

“If he comes in and gives up a lead off walk, then I’m nervous the rest of the way.”

“That’s pretty regular,” Joe Suggs said, with a laugh.

Kerry Suggs recalled a game last year against Florida where the late-game pressure was so intense she had to walk outside.

“Then I actually tried to look in through the window on the front door to see if I could see the TV,” she said.

“I couldn’t stand it.”

Sharon Fant, mother of Arkansas’ Sunday afternoon starter, Randall Fant, said she keeps to herself when the left-hander is throwing.

“I’m just real still and I don’t talk to anyone,” she said. “I’m just focusing with him.

Everybody knows I don’t talk during the game. Then when he’s done we hug each other.”Breaking out

Arkansas’ top two hitters entering the NCAA regional - outfielders Brian Anderson and Matt Vinson - were both struggling at the plate entering Sunday’s night game, and each delivered in the Hogs’ three run first inning against Kansas State.

Anderson broke out of an 0-for-17 slump with a two run single and Vinson drove him in with a single to end his skid.

Vinson, who was at .299 entering the regional, fell to .287 with an 0 for 8 start in Manhattan, a stretch that included six strikeouts and no balls hit out of the infield. Vinson did not play in the Hogs’ 12-3 victory over Bryant but batted in the No. 6 hole against Kansas State.

Wright way

Left-hander Tyler Wright worked two innings plus two batters in his start against Kansas State and managed to keep his season earned run average at 0.00 with a little help from reliever Trent Daniel.

Coach Dave Van Horn removed Wright after he walked nine-hole batter Lance Miles and lead off batter Ross Kivett to open the third.

Wright (1-1) has not given up an earned run in 20 1/3 innings, despite 11 walks and 9 hits allowed.

Wise decisions

Catcher Jake Wise did not start either of Sunday’s games while dealing with a bruised left forearm. Wise caught the final three innings of Arkansas 12-3 victory over Bryant.

Serrano’s streak

Arkansas’ Joe Serrano reached safely in his first seven plate appearances on Sunday, stretching his streak to eight appearances reaching base.

Serrano went 3 for 3 against Bryant, walked twice and was hit by a pitch. He opened Arkansas’ big first inning against Kansas State with a single and scored, reached in the second on an error and struck out looking in the fourth to snap the streak.

Bad slide

Shortstop Brett McAfee was tagged out in a rundown after over sliding third base on Jean Ramirez’s sacrifice bunt in the fourth inning.

McAfee initiated a rundown before being tagged out that allowed Ramirez to make second base, but the catcher hit his face into shortstop Austin Fisher’s knee on his head-first slide and needed a few minutes to recuperate.

Rough one

Bryant Coach Steve Owens gave a succinct summary of his team’s 12-3 loss to Arkansas.

“It was a tough day,” Owens said. “It started off wrong, ended wrong and did not get much better in the middle.”

Sports, Pages 16 on 06/03/2013