FAYETTEVILLE - Ben Tschepikow and Tim Smalling stood shoulder-to-shoulder with their baseball gloves dangling from their arms and smiled as if they were posing for a publicity shot.

It was a Kodak moment.

They are fast becoming the middle infield Arkansas has been looking for this spring.

Tschepikow, a scrappy junior second baseman from Fayetteville, and Smalling, a lanky sophomore shortstop from Raleigh, N.C., are quickly cementing the midsection of the defense for the Razorbacks.

Slowly, but surely, they've made heads turn as fast as double plays and that trend continued Friday during a 14-5 win against Siena in Baum Stadium.

It's at the plate where they are making the biggest difference. Tschepikow got a head start, but Smalling is quickly catching up.

They were a combined 8-for-10 with 3 RBIs on Friday with Smalling having the most productive day, going 4-for-5 with 2 RBIs.

With his effort, Smalling vaulted his batting average from .138 to .308 and wiped away an early season slump.

"In a slump, he was? " said Tschepikow, who lifted his average from .423 to .528 on Friday. "I didn't even worry about it. I know Smalling and he can hit it just as good as anybody else. I've never worried about him. I didn't even know he was in a slump. He's going to end up hitting about .350.

"I'm not worried about Smalling, nobody else is, either."

Smalling didn't seem worried, either.

"I knew it was going to come around," said Smalling, who's been platooning with freshman Scott Lyons. "It was just a matter of time and sticking with it, working hard in the (batting) cage and trusting myself."

Heading into this week, Smalling and Lyons were a combined 1-for-40, but Smalling definitely has put some separation between them with is bat.

"He knows he can hit," Tschepikow said. "We know he can hit it."

In the field, Tschepikow and Smalling look like a solid solution to all of the questions the Razorbacks might have had.

"We have fun out there," Tschepikow said. "We know what we can do and we just go out there and do it. It's still early in the season and we are getting comfortable with each other."

Smalling nodded.

"Yeah," he said. "Playing last year helped. Ben took me under his wing and helped me a lot with a lot of things, like my confidence."

And apparently it's working.