Arkansas adjusts weekend rotation again ahead of regular-season finale
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FAYETTEVILLE — Heading into the final weekend of the regular season, the No. 1 team in college baseball is tweaking its weekend rotation once again.
With a chance to clinch the SEC West and overall titles, Arkansas will keep left-hander Patrick Wicklander in the Game 1 role for the Florida series, but right-hander Caleb Bolden will move into the second slot and there is still a TBA for Game 3.
Head coach Dave Van Horn mentioned right-hander Peyton Pallette and left-hander Lael Lockhart are options to start the series finale, but they could also come out of the bullpen in the first two games.
“We probably could have announced a third-game starter,” Van Horn said. “We need to see where we’re at and who do we need to use to win Game 1, if we have a chance to win Game 1. Same with Game 2.”
The move to Bolden for the second game comes after he had a strong relief appearance at Tennessee. Inheriting a two-out, two-on situation in the fourth inning, the Texarkana, Texas, native got out of the jam unscathed allowed only one run on three hits in 3 1/3 innings.
It will be just the third time Bolden has started an SEC game, as he made a spot start in the series-opener at South Carolina because of a scheduling quirk and also started the third game fo the Georgia series. He allowed four earned runs in 5 2/3 innings in those two starts combined.
“He deserves it,” Van Horn said. “He pitched really well and gave us a chance to get back in that game the other day, a chance to win it. And we just felt like he’s older and he deserves it.”
The player he replaces in that Game 2 spot is Pallette, who had held that role the last several weeks.
Earlier in the season, the Benton native was actually the Razorbacks’ Friday night starter, but he got knocked around in the SEC opener against Alabama and shifted to the bullpen for a couple of weeks before returning to the rotation.
In two conference relief appearances, Pallette has given up just two earned runs on four hits and two walks while striking out seven in 8 1/3 combined innings against Mississippi State and Auburn.
Those outings give Van Horn confidence that he’d do a great job if they ask him to come out of the bullpen in one of the first two games.
“We witnessed it after we took him out of the rotation after a couple or three shaky starts,” Van Horn said. “He went to the pen and he did a great job and then we promoted him back to a starter and he’s had some good outings. It’s just hasn’t been quite as consistent as we’ve needed.”
There is a chance Pallette could start Game 3 if Arkansas doesn’t need a long reliever before Saturday, but Lockhart also gives them a solid option after he looked good in his return to the rotation at Tennessee.
The Razorbacks’ Game 3 starter the first 10 weeks of the season, Lockhart struggled in his previous three starts. He gave up nine earned runs in 5 2/3 combined innings - including recording just one out at LSU - and was replaced by Bolden for the Georgia series.
The graduate transfer from Houston got back on track, though, with two perfect innings in relief during the midweek win over Arkansas State. Against Tennessee, he retired 11 of the first 12 batters he faced and got through four scoreless innings before running into trouble in the fifth, which has been a common theme for him this season.
“If Lockhart gets a start and he goes four strong innings, we’ll probably send him back out, but we’ll have a guy ready,” Van Horn said. “We’ll see if we can get him through it, but if he doesn’t, we can’t be two hitters too late.”
After being mentioned as a potential weekend starter, it is unlikely freshman Jaxon Wiggins will get the nod this weekend after he struggled in his lone appearances at Tennessee.
The right-hander wall called upon to try to close Game 2, but failed to record an out in the ninth inning before giving up a walk-off three-run home run to Max Ferguson. Despite the blown save, Wiggins is still expected to be a contributor down the stretch.
“He threw well the other day with Coach (Matt) Hobbs,” Van Horn said. “He seemed fine. … We haven't played a game since he was out there, but we believe in him. You may see him this weekend, and you'll definitely see him in the tournament."
Even though the Razorbacks don’t appear to have three “lock-down” starters and have had a revolving door with their rotation this year, they enter the final week of the regular season as the clear No. 1 team in the country.
Arkansas has a chance to win just its second ever outright SEC overall title and become just the second team to win all 10 series since the conference went to the current format in 1996.
“It’s just been a great group effort,” Van Horn said. “It’s about the team. The team really pulls for each other. Yeah, there’s guys that are disappointed they don’t get to start, whether it’s in the field or on the mound.
“But bottom line, they just want to win. They just want to help the team. I think it’s one of the reasons that we’re where we are. We don’t really have a selfish team. We just want to win.”