Around the Diamond: D'Arcy leaves team, time change, stat check, more

FAYETTEVILLE — Freshman outfielder Gabe D’Arcy is no longer with the program.

HawgBeat originally reported the news prior to Friday’s season opener against Illinois State, as he left the team the day before.

Head coach Dave Van Horn commented on D’Arcy’s decision during Tuesday morning’s press conference, telling reporters that it was “100% his call” to leave and that it came shortly after they discussed him redshirting in 2022.

“We told him there was going to be a good chance we’d redshirt him and talked about next year and the future, so we were really positive with him,” Van Horn said. “Then an hour later he sends a text that says, ‘I don’t want to play anymore,’ to Coach (Nate) Thompson.”

Upon further investigation, Van Horn said he believes homesickness played a role in his decision to leave. D’Arcy played at JSerra Catholic, a baseball power in San Juan Capistrano, Calif., which is in Orange County near Los Angeles.

“It was just kind of like, ‘Wow, really?’” Van Horn said. “Then you talk to the players who live with him and you find out that he really wasn’t happy being away from California, honestly.”

Despite being a heralded recruit coming out of high school, checking in at No. 204 in Perfect Game’s ranking of Class of 2021 prospects, D’Arcy was likely heading for a redshirt because of Arkansas’ deep outfield that features five potential starters.

However, listed at 6-foot-3, 235 pounds, he was a promising prospect with raw power and athleticism. In five public scrimmages leading up to the season, though, D’Arcy went just 3 for 16 (.188) with a double, two RBIs, four runs, two walks and six strikeouts.

Round Rock Time Changes

With cold temperatures and a slight chance of rain in the forecast the first two days of the event, the Round Rock Classic has moved up the start times of each game this weekend.

Instead of playing at 7 p.m. CT Friday and 6 p.m. CT Saturday and Sunday, the Razorbacks’ three games are now scheduled to start at 4 p.m. CT. It’s also worth noting, however, that they are the second game at Dell Diamond, home of the Texas Rangers’ Triple-A affiliate Round Rock Express, each day.

All three games will still be streamed on FloBaseball.

Same Rotation

Arkansas will not make any changes to its weekend rotation, Van Horn confirmed Tuesday.

That means right-hander Connor Noland will pitch Friday against Indiana, left-hander Hagen Smith will pitch Saturday against No. 3 Stanford and right-hander Jaxon Wiggins will pitch Sunday against Louisiana-Lafayette.

Each of the starters threw at least five innings on Opening Weekend, highlighted by Smith’s six scoreless innings in his collegiate debut. They combined for a 1.69 ERA in 16 innings against Illinois State.

“Connor had a rough first inning, but after that I thought he was really good,” Van Horn said. “We have no problem putting him out there. Obviously Hagen threw the ball extremely well game two, and we’ll keep him there, and I thought Wiggins threw the ball extremely well.”