Making it harder on themselves to win last Saturday's first game of a doubleheader in Oxford made it easier for the Razorbacks whip Ole Miss in the second game.

That's Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn's Monday assessment of his Hogs taking of 2 of 3 in a SEC series for the third consecutive weekend.

Hung on a 12-4 noose Friday night after Ole Miss wasted Dallas Keuchel's hanging waste pitch for a 3-run home run, the Razorbacks in Saturday's first game romped early, got tied late then won 13-11 in 10 innings.

Arkansas flattened the Rebels in Saturday's session by the same 12-4 Ole Miss achieved Friday.

A forecast for a day-long deluge Sunday caused Ole Miss and Arkansas to agree on a 4 p.m. doubleheader Saturday.

His Razorbacks now preparing to host Missouri State in Wednesday's 6: 30 p.m. nonconference game before Alabama visits Baum Stadium for a SEC series at 6: 35 p.m. Friday, 2 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday, Van Horn said he was apprehensive about playing two on Saturday in Oxford right up until the Rebels' final out in Saturday's first game.

Then Van Horn sensed the Rebels might hit the wall and their fans hit the exits.

" If we had just kept that lead and blown them out, it would have been tougher to beat them in Game 2, " Van Horn said Monday. " But for them to come racing from all the way back and tie us in the ninth, they were feeling pretty good over there. So for us to score two in the 10 th and win it, it hurt them a little bit. "

And had the Hogs' spirits soaring after feeling down the dumper Friday night.

" We felt really good about Game 2, " Van Horn said of Saturday's nightcap. " It turned out that way. We jumped out to a 6 or 7-run lead. I noticed when we had that 3-run home run [by Logan Forsythe ] to give us a 6-run lead and then a couple of batters later [Tim ] Smalling hit one, it looked like a lot of their fans took off. That didn't bother us a bit. That was kind of fun. "

Smalling, the sophomore shortstop moved to first base midseason after freshman Andy Wilkins went down with a shoulder injury, and junior third baseman Forsythe hit everything in Oxford but the town square.

Forsythe was named SEC Hitter of the Week Monday by the SEC Office in Birmingham, Ala.

Entering last weekend with just nine RBI in an injurywracked season, Forsythe almost matched that in three games at Oxford. He netted eight RBI against Ole Miss while hitting 7 for 11 with three home runs and a double.

" He really came through for us this weekend, " Van Horn said. " We needed Logan to start driving in runs, and he did that for us. "

Hitting just four home runs all 2007, Smalling swatted four homes in Oxford, three in Saturday's first game.

Smalling's surge in Oxford only upped his batting average to. 265, such was his slow start until hitting coach Todd Butler's advice kicked in.

" He's been frustrated, and struck out a lot this year, " Van Horn said. " Coach Butler actually got with Tim and talked to him about giving him a little bit of a leg kick. Maybe it would keep his front side on the baseball a little bit. He hit four home runs on the day and flew to the base of the fence twice. The wind wasn't blowing out. If a couple of those balls had been hit Friday, he would have had six home runs. "

Ole Miss sports the SEC's hardest throwing pitching staff and has dominated Arkansas in the recent past.

Last Saturday, the harder the Rebels threw them in, the harder the Hogs hit them out.

" On the weekend we hit 11 home runs, " Van Horn said. " They had pitchers throwing extremely hard but not hitting their spots. When they missed, we hit it. Coach Butler did a great job getting us ready. "

Staring at a 7-11 SEC mark after Friday night, Saturday's sweep boosted Arkansas, 26-18, to 9-11 in the league, just a game and a half off Ole Miss' 11-10 best in the SEC West.

Certainly the Hogs are in hunt with Alabama, Auburn and LSU for second-best in the West which guarantees a berth in the 12-team, twodivision league's eight-team postseason conference tournament.

" We felt like we were in it, Van Horn said of last Friday. " We're just down one run. We had just tied it and then they took the lead and they have two on and two outs and we're ahead of a hitter with a 1-2 count. We are trying to bounce a curve ball and Dallas hung it and the guy hits it out of the park and all of a sudden we're down four. Momentum swung and we just didn't rebound. "

Until the following day.

" We recovered Saturday, " Van Horn said. " We haven't had too many breaks this year and I think we are starting to make our own breaks a little bit more. "

Last Saturday they even got a break because some breaks broke against them.

Nate Allen covers the Razorbacks for the Northwest Arkansas Times.