For Arkansas it was the thrill of the Chase as right fielder Chase Leavitt went 3 for 3 with 3 RBIs and drew two walks pacing the Razorbacks' 9-2 nonconference victory over Northern Colorado Tuesday night at Baum Stadium.

Leadoff man Leavitt sports a five-game hitting streak and is 9 for his last 17 and reached base 5 out of 5 Tuesday.

" He had a really good night for us, " Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn said. " He kind of jump-started us and got the big two-out hit that gave us a 6-run lead. A 4-run lead is a good lead but 6 is a lot more. "

As leadoff man, JC transfer Leavitt said, " It's my job to get on base any way I can. So tonight I did a pretty good job. "

Leavitt played well in his first game since getting forced out on a double-play onehopper he thought from second would be a soft line drive to the pitcher in the ninth inning of Sunday's 7-6 10-inning SEC loss to Tennessee.

" It was pretty frustrating for me, and for the team as well, " Leavitt said of Sunday's loss. " We had that game pretty much won... so it felt good to come out here and stay positive. You just have got to move on. "

Tuesday's game, attended by an optimis- tic 1, 033 braving threats of more storms, started 30 minutes late because of rain.

Today's conclusion to the two-game series starts an hour ahead of schedule, at noon instead of the listed 1 p.m. to accommodate the NCU Bears' flight home today to Greeley, Colo.

Tuesday's triumph advances Arkansas to 23-17 going to today's game before the Razorbacks head to Oxford, Miss., for this weekend's threegame SEC series versus SEC West leader Ole Miss.

Arkansas took a 1-0 lead Tuesday on Andrew Darr's solo home run in the second before NCU took its lone lead, 2-1 in the third.

A sacrifice fly and first baseman Jacob House's throwing error accounted for the Bears' runs.

Arkansas put it out of reach with three in fourth, four in the fifth and one more in the sixth.

RBI singles by Brett Eibner and Leavitt and an RBI double into the right-center field gap by Fayetteville native Ben Tschepikow accounted for the fourth-inning runs.

Leavitt singled home two in the fifth with two errors and a wild pitch figuring in the other two runs.

Left fielder Casey Coon, in his first start since injuring his ankle April 1 against Missouri State, singled home the sixthinning run.

Evan Cox of Maumelle, relieving starter Sam Murphy to start the fifth, logged Tuesday's reliever.

Mike Bolsinger pitched Tuesday's eighth and ninth innings, his first appearance since an injury during the March 28-30 SEC series at Vanderbilt.

" That's the first time Bolsinger has thrown in a while, " Van Horn said. " That was good to see because we're trying to get a couple of guys back. [Injured first baseman Andy ] Wilkins is still not there but Casey swung the bat well tonight. It was good to get him back. "

Northern Colorado, playing 32 of its games on the road, dropped to 14-25 but does have one victory in Tempe, Ariz., over nationally top-ranked Arizona State.