Arkansas didn’t shuffle its weekend rotation until the final weekend of the regular season and now enters the Chapel Hill Super Regional with only one starter locked in.
Senior Connor Noland will get the nod in Game 1 against North Carolina at 10 a.m. CT Saturday, but that is all head coach Dave Van Horn wanted to reveal following the Razorback’ practice at Boshamer Stadium.
“I know who’s pitching tomorrow and that would be Connor Noland,” Van Horn said. “Anybody that’s not starting Game 1 can be coming out of the bullpen.”
The comment comes after a Stillwater Regional in which a couple of pitchers were used in new ways.
Freshman Hagen Smith, the usual Game 2 starter, struggled as a starter, but closed out the final victory with a strong two innings in relief. Sophomore Jaxon Wiggins has typically started the third game, but has struggled in recent outings, including against Oklahoma State. Junior Zack Morris was strong in relief and in his first career start.
While Van Horn has to sort through how exactly he’ll use his pitching staff, he’s very comfortable sending Noland out to the mound Saturday morning.
The right-hander did not have a great finish to the season, but bounced back with a fantastic start against Grand Canyon in the regional. He gave up just one earned run in seven innings to earn the win.
He did blow a save against Oklahoma State two days later, but that was a quick turnaround and in his first relief appearance of the season.
“He’s been Steady Eddy all year,” Van Horn said. “He always gives us a great effort. He doesn’t make excuses and I think the team really likes playing behind him.”
North Carolina will counter with sophomore Max Carlson on Saturday. The right-hander has a 3.61 ERA, holds opponents to a .234 batting average and averages 10.5 strikeouts per nine innings.
According to North Carolina head coach Scott Forbes, Carlson has a four-pitch mix with a fastball, slider, curveball and changeup. His fastball can tough 96 mph early in his outings, but usually sits 92-93.
“He’s got good stuff,” Van Horn said. “You look at his numbers, they’re good. He’s going to be what we see on Fridays in the SEC. He’s going to attack you with three different pitches and maybe a fourth. He’s got a good fastball, I know that. He’s been around, he’s experienced.”
One thing worth noting about Carlson is that he’s thrown only 72 1/3 innings in his 17 starts this season. That’s an average of just about 4 1/3 innings per outing. He’s gotten through six innings just twice.
The lack of stamina could be due to the fact he is coming back from an elbow injury. It was initially feared that he’d miss the entire season because of Tommy John surgery, but he was able to have a different procedure instead.
“Honestly, I’ve been surprised at how well he’s come back from that and his velocity has continued to tick up,” Forbes said. “His command has improved as the season’s moved along, so it’s been good to see him knock that rust off for a kid that had not pitched and didn’t get to pitch for us the whole fall.”
Here are a few other notes ahead of the Chapel Hill Super Regional…
Stillwater Regional Stats
If it seemed like Arkansas was a completely different team last weekend than it was throughout the entire season, it’s because it basically was from a statistical standpoint.
The Razorbacks put up 44 runs over their four games in the Stillwater Regional, with that 11-run average well above their 6.9 average coming into the weekend.
As a team, Arkansas posted a .311/.444/.583 slash line, giving it a 1.027 OPS for the weekend. During the regular season, the Razorbacks slashed .269/.376/.475 for an .851 OPS.
