acknowledged, as his Razorbacks prepare for a 2 p. m. game today and finish the series at 1 p. m. Sunday.

“ He’s got a pulled muscle in his side, ” Van Horn said of Wilkins after offering a candidly thumbsdown review of his team’s performance. “ Worst thing as a hitter that can happen to you. Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s out for a month.

“ I can’t remember the last time [third baseman Logan ] Forsythe drove in a run. And they are all looking to him. And now Wilkins is out. It’s going to be a long road if somebody doesn’t step it up. ”

Other than catcher Jeff Nutt’s 2-run homer tying it 2-2 in the second, nobody stepped up to drive in anything off Auburn winning starter Grant Dayton and relievers Michael Hurst and Bryan Woodall.

Down, 5-2, after Dayton finished throwing six complete, the Hogs did greet Hurst in the seventh with Nutt singling and Brett Eibner getting hit by a pitch.

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Then Tim Smalling struck out. Chase Leavitt flied to left and Sean Jones fouled out softly to the first

Arkansas’ chances to rebound into the SEC West baseball chase got left out in the cold and then some on a chilly Friday night at Baum Stadium.

Not only did the Razorbacks (16-12, 2-7 ) lose 5-2 Friday’s opener of a three-game SEC West series with Auburn (19-11, 5-5 ) but lost. 333-hitting freshman first baseman Andy Wilkins to a pulled muscle.

All that painted a grim picture, Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn baseman.

Van Horn’s cold-night mood dipped to frosty recalling the seventh.

“ When I really think of it, ” Van Horn said reciting woulda, coulda, shouldas fielding Auburn bunts and missed offensive opportunities, “ it’s the seventh inning, we have runners at first and second and nobody out and they didn’t move. A couple of fly balls and a strike out later and we are out of that inning. That was really disap- pointing. We just didn’t get the big hit. ”

Throwing a pretty solid eight innings, Arkansas losing starter Cliff Springston (4-1 ) deserved better, but the Tigers scratched out five runs on 10 hits augmented by small ball with two sac bunts, two stolen bases and a sacrifice fly.

“ Give them credit, ” Van Horn said. “ They played well. They bunted well. They threw strikes when they needed to and we didn’t counter offensively. ”

Asked if his postgame talk stressed the urgency of getting into the West race, Van Horn responded, “ That’s beating a dead horse. That’s not doing anything except making them nervous, getting that look in that eye, that fear. The only thing we can do is get them ready for the game. You can tell how frustrated they are. ”