HawgBeat Preview: Northwestern State visits for pair of midweek games
Arkansas’ homestead continues with the final two midweek games of the year at Baum-Walker Stadium. Here is a preview of the two-game Northwestern State series…
Schedule (TV)
Tuesday, April 23 - 6:30 p.m. CT (SECN+)
Wednesday, April 24 - 3 p.m. CT (SECN+)
Both games will be streamed on SEC Network-plus, meaning they can be watched on ESPN3.com or on the WatchESPN app.
Weather Report
Rain could be a factor for both games. According to the Weather Channel, there is a 60-65 percent chance of thunderstorms Tuesday evening and a 45 percent chance of showers Wednesday afternoon.
That will bring some cooler temperatures, but it will still be in the low-70s at first pitch of Game 1 and upper-60s for Game 2.
Arkansas’ Starting Pitchers (season stats)
Tuesday - So. RHP Kole Ramage (16 games/0 starts, 6-1, 5.35 ERA, 29 K/14 BB, 37 IP)
Wednesday - TBA
Head coach Dave Van Horn announced Ramage as the first starter against Northwestern State, but left the second game open and will probably reveal the starter after Tuesday’s game.
It will be an important outing for Ramage, who will be making his first start of the season after struggling in his last five relief appearances. Opponents are hitting .419 against him and he’s allowed 16 earned runs with nine walks and just eight strikeouts in his last 10 1/3 innings.
Despite it including his 4 2/3 innings without an earned run out of the bullpen in the 15-inning win at Auburn, Ramage has a 13.94 ERA during that stretch. The plan Tuesday is to “let him go, see how it goes,” Van Horn said.
“It’s about getting ahead of hitters for him because his stuff is hard to hit when he’s ahead,” Van Horn said. “He’s got a plus changeup and usually a pretty good slider. He’s got to command that fastball more. He’s got to get ahead with it and use it a little bit more, so I would think if he can get that going tomorrow, he’ll have a good outing.”
There are four or five pitchers the Razorbacks would like to use after Ramage, including Jacob Kostyshock. The right-hander struggled in his first appearances after returning from an injury and Van Horn thinks he just needs to knock off the rust. He could throw an inning or two, depending on how many pitches he throws.
Wednesday will be a game for the younger pitchers on the roster who don’t pitch much - if at all - on the weekends. It will probably go a long way in determining which players make the 27-man roster that stays on campus when school ends in a few weeks.
Van Horn is hoping one or two of them step up and pitch well, giving the Razorbacks another couple of arms for the postseason.
“A lot of times in bullpens, they’re okay, but when you get out there on the mound in front of people, it just doesn’t go well,” Van Horn said. “I think seeing (Patrick) Wicklander and (Connor) Noland pitch so well on the weekend, that should be motivation for some of these young guys to just kind of get over it a little bit and go out and pitch.”
In the Polls
With a sweep of No. 2 Mississippi State, Arkansas jumped up five spots to No. 6 in the latest HawgBeat Composite Poll. Northwestern State is unranked, but is a respectable No. 123 in the RPI. The Razorbacks are No. 5 in the RPI.
Scouting the Opponent
Northwestern State’s starting pitchers (season stats)
Tuesday - R-Jr. RHP Kyle Swanson (12 games/0 starts, 0-1, 5.14 ERA, 6 K/5 BB, 14 IP)
Wednesday - TBA
Led by third-year coach Bobby Barbier, Northwestern State is the reigning Southland Conference Tournament champion and is off to a 23-15 start this season.
The Demons are currently sixth in the 13-team Southland Conference with a 12-9 mark in league play, but are just two games out of first place.
More relevant to their matchup with the Razorbacks, though, they have already claimed midweek wins over LSU and Louisiana Tech and lost to Louisiana-Lafayette, all three of which are quality baseball programs.
Last season, they pushed the Tigers to the brink of elimination from the NCAA Tournament before giving up five runs in the ninth inning to lose 9-5.
“They’re not scared,” Van Horn said. “They’ve already beat LSU this year. … They play Lafayette, they play them all. This is just another game for them.”
Offensively, Northwestern State is led by freshman infielder Hilton Brown. He is hitting .375 with two home runs and 17 RBIs, but has really hit his stride this month, going 20 for 45 (.444) in April.
Third-year starting shortstop Caleb Ricca is enjoying a nice junior season for the Demons, with a .303 batting average, five home runs and a team-high 25 RBIs. He also leads the team in walks (26) and stolen bases (19 for 24). His five home runs are tied with junior center fielder Tyler Smith (.234) for the most on the team.
Another player Arkansas should be aware of is senior right fielder Austin Stegall, who is hitting .320 with four home runs and 13 RBIs.
Much like the Razorbacks, Barbier is giving a reliever his first start of the season Tuesday and leaving Wednesday open.
It will be Swanson on the mound in Game 1. A veteran bullpen arm, this will be his second career start and first since his freshman season back in 2016, when he earned the win with three scoreless innings against Mississippi Valley State.
His longest outing of the year was three scoreless innings on 37 pitches against UALR in February, so the Demons will also likely use several pitchers out of their bullpen.
A pair of seniors appear to be their best relievers.
Left-hander Tyler Pigott is 5-1 despite making just two starts and 11 relief appearances, plus has a 3.00 ERA, 21 strikeouts and 10 walks in 18 innings. Right-hander Jose Vasquez is the only pitcher with multiple saves, with two, and has a 4.80 ERA, 20 strikeouts and only four walks in 15 innings.
Cradle of Coaches
This will be a nostalgic midweek series for Van Horn because Northwestern State is the first school that gave him a Division I head coaching opportunity. He went 106-65 overall and won two conference titles in his three seasons with the Demons.
“When you see the uniform, it brings back a lot of good memories because when we moved there…we had a 1-year old and when we left there we had a 4-year old and an infant,” Van Horn said. “I really enjoyed my time in Natchitoches. It’s a great town. The people are friendly. Just a good place to live.”
Interestingly, he was one of four straight Northwestern State baseball coaches who eventually became head coaches in the SEC.
The position was open for Van Horn because Jim Wells left to take the job at Alabama, where he reached the College World Series three times.
Immediately following Van Horn were John Cohen and Mitch Gaspard. Cohen left Northwestern State to become an assistant at Florida before becoming a head coach at Kentucky and Mississippi State, where he is now the athletics director, while Gaspard was an assistant and then a head coach at Alabama.
“You’ve got to work hard there,” Van Horn said. “Not a big budget. You’ve got to recruit kids all over the place. Mostly the high school kids you’re going to get are going to be in-state, but you have to go get a lot of junior college guys, too. You learn how to work.”
Bark in the Park
Both of the midweek games against Northwestern State will serve as “Bark in the Park” days at Baum-Walker Stadium, allowing fans to bring their dogs to the game.
All dogs must be at least six months old and have complete and current vaccinations. They also must be on a leash at all times and can only be in the Hog Pen area beyond left field.
For more information and a link to the waiver that must be filled out, click here.
Stat of the Midweek
Casey Martin’s sophomore season has been a disappointment by most standards, but the preseason All-American seems to be heating up for the Razorbacks.
After hovering closer to the Mendoza Line than .300 as recently as a couple of weeks ago, he has risen his season batting average to .295 thanks to his play the last eight games.
During that stretch, he is 17 for 36 with five doubles, two home runs, 11 RBIs, 12 runs and four walks. That gives him a .472/.525/.778 slash over that span. If he manages to replicate that over the next eight games, his average will jump up to .325, which is much closer to his preseason expectations.
Stat Comparison - Arkansas | Northwestern State (national rank, out of 297 teams)
Batting average: .299 (22nd) | .256 (199th)
Slugging percentage: .472 (19th) | .394 (148th)
On-base percentage: .401 (22nd) | .358 (175th)
Home runs: 44 (t-28th) | 28 (t-118th)
Runs/game: 7.6 (23rd) | 5.7 (t-156th)
ERA: 4.07 (67th) | 3.92 (54th)
WHIP: 1.30 (41st) | 1.27 (27th)
Strikeouts/9 innings: 9.7 (26th) | 8.2 (144th)
Strikeout-to-walk ratio: 2.35 (59th) | 2.73 (20th)
Fielding percentage: .972 (95th) | .980 (9th)
Stolen bases/game: 1.30 (t-86th) | 1.16 (t-113th)
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