Arkansas sophomore right-hander Brady Tygart will "five to six" weeks with an elbow strain suffered in Wednesday's game against Illinois State, head coach Dave Van Horn announced Friday.
"He's got a (strain)," Van Horn said after Friday's 12-2 win over Wright State. "Which is good news for now. I think he's going to get looked at one more time and then it'll be 100%. That's what the doctors feel. That's what he felt. If that's the case, then he'll be out probably 5 or 6 weeks at least."
Tygart's mother, Belinda, doubled down on what Van Horn said via her Twitter on Friday evening.
"The preliminary diagnosis shows a UCL Strain and will be out about 6 weeks," Belinda Tygart said. "We are getting it double checked with another doctor to confirm. Thank you for the prayers, please keep them coming!"
This marks the second time this year that the Diamond Hogs have lost a key peice to their pitching staff to some degree, as projected ace Jaxon Wiggins tore his UCL prior to the start of the season. The injury is the third time in the past two seasons that an Arkansas pitcher has suffered an injury that held them out for a significant period of time, as righty Peyton Pallette missed the entire 2022 season due to a UCL injury as well.
The injury happened in the ninth inning of Tuesday's 10-9 win over Illinois State, which was Tygart's worst statistical performance of the season. He showed discomfort following a pitch and immediately called for the trainer to come look. Tygart left the game to a dead silent Baum Walker Stadium.
Though he gave up four runs (three earned) on two hits in his 1 2/3 innings against the Redbirds, Tygart had been lights out to start the season. He gave up just one earned run in his first three appearances and had eight strikeouts, no walks and a save.
Last season, Tygart was Arkansas' go-to closer for a larger portion of the year. He had a team-high eight saves across 24 relief appearances. The right-hander posted an ERA of 3.82, he struck out 51 batters and opponents hit with a .212 average against him.
Named a preseason Second Team All-American by D1Baseball, Tygart will be sorely missed by the Razorbacks, who have had concerning bullpen struggles to start the season.
It is unclear who will step up in place of Tygart as the Diamond Hogs' closer moving forward. Redshirt sophomore righty Dylan Carter came in to relieve Tygart on Tuesday, and he threw 2 1/3 innings of scoreless ball to help the Razorbacks get the win.
"If Tygart’s out for a while, or who knows what’s up, we’ve got to have some guys step it up," Van Horn said.
Carter also threw in Friday's 12-2 run-rule win over Wright State on Friday and he gave up just one earned run across 2 1/3 innings pitched.
