FAYETTEVILLE — Dave Van Horn usually walks to the mound when making a pitching change, but he jogged out of the dugout after Connor Noland notched his fifth strikeout Saturday afternoon.

It’s hard to blame him, as Arkansas’ 17th-year coach was feeding off the adrenaline of the freshman’s 7 2/3 scoreless innings that helped the Razorbacks finish off a sweep of No. 2 Mississippi State with a 10-2 win.

“I was fired up for him,” Van Horn said. “He kind of knew that he was coming out because I didn’t want him to throw anymore pitches, honestly, and I wanted him to get a little recognition for having such a great outing in such a clutch game for us today.”

Once he got out there and Noland gave him the ball, that’s just what happened. The largest Baum-Walker Stadium crowd of the season gave Noland a standing ovation as he left the field.

It was the perfect ending to what was likely the toughest week of the two-sport freshman’s career.

Just a week earlier, he allowed five earned runs without recording an out at Vanderbilt. A few days later, Noland started and threw two scoreless innings against UAPB, after which Van Horn told reporters he’d likely be available out of the pen.

“He took it like a man,” Van Horn said. “He didn’t run from it and feel like he’d been demoted. He just said, ‘OK, this is what I’ve got to do.’”

However, he put in a lot of good work at practice and, with Cody Scroggins out with arm soreness, the Razorbacks gave him the ball again.

Facing a team that came into the series with the third-best batting average in the country at .327, the Greenwood native was phenomenal and showed no signs of the Vanderbilt disaster.

“I’ve said all along that he’s mature for being a freshman college,” Van Horn said. “His mental makeup is advanced over some kids his age - maybe a lot - that we coach.”

On top of the mental side of things, Noland also has the physical tools to be a starter in the SEC and they were on full display Saturday afternoon. He limited the Bulldogs to just four hits and didn’t walk any while striking out five.

Van Horn described it as a “lights out” performance, which lowered his season ERA a full run from 5.60 to 4.60.

“He had his two-seamer going, sinking,” Van Horn said. “He wasn’t overpowering… Most of his pitches were right at 90 and then he had a really good slider. He mixed in some changeups to some lefties, but he kind of went with the harder breaking pitch today and just did a super job.”

The only trouble Noland found himself in all game came in the first inning when he gave up hits to Jordan Westburg and Tanner Allen and then moved them to second and third with a wild pitch.

He escaped the jam unscathed by retiring Elijah MacNamee and Justin Foscue - each of whom had homered earlier in the series - via strikeout and fly out to center.

“It was a big momentum thing for me,” Noland said. “It was a tough spot…and I was feeling down. … I was just trying to get out of the inning with a zero on the board and once that happened, I felt like I could go.

From that point on, the Bulldogs managed just three more base runners against Noland and none were in the same inning. A quick seven-pitch seventh inning allowed him to come back out in the eighth and he said that he could have finished the game if he needed to because he still had some juice left.

Instead, he was done after 89 pitches - 60 of which were strikes - even though he said he had enough juice left to finish the game if needed. Not only were his 7 2/3 innings a career high, but they matched two of Isaiah Campbell’s outings for the longest by an Arkansas pitcher this season.

The win, coupled with a doubleheader split by Texas A&M at South Carolina, moves the Razorbacks into sole possession of first place in the SEC West. They are half a game ahead of the Aggies and one game behind behind Georgia for the overall conference lead.

“It’s definitely a great feeling, but there is so much more work to do,” Jacob Nesbit said. “It’s kind of like rinse and repeat - we’ve got another really good team coming in here next week in Tennessee.”

Before the Razorbacks worry about Tennessee, their homestand continues with a two-game midweek series against Northwestern State. Tuesday’s game will start at 6:30, followed by a 3 p.m. start Wednesday.

Both games will be streamed on SEC Network-plus, meaning they can be watched on ESPN3.com and the WatchESPN app.

Sixth-Inning Explosion

For a while, Arkansas had a hard time giving Noland any run support. It was a pitchers duel with freshman JT Ginn - a first-round pick who turned down a reported $2.4 million to go to school - matching him with four scoreless innings.

The Razorbacks finally broke through with an RBI single by Nesbit in the fifth. More importantly, they got his pitch count up and set the table for the next inning.

“It just seemed like he couldn’t quite get the slider over any more,” Van Horn said. “He got it over a few times early and hitters know in the back of their mind that’s there and then the fastball just seems to be a little quicker getting on them.”

Casey Martin hit a leadoff double and Matt Goodheart drew a walk to prompt a pitching change. Mississippi State called on its top bullpen arm, Trysten Barlow, and that’s when Arkansas pounced.

After a Jack Kenley walk loaded the bases, Jordan McFarland was hit by a pitch to bring in a run. Casey Opitz followed with a sharp grounder that third baseman Gunner Halter couldn’t handle, allowing two runs to score, and then Jacob Nesbit hit a three-run homer.

“He threw me a fastball on the first pitch of the at bat that kind of sawed off my hands little bit,” Nesbit said about his dinger. “He threw me a fastball again on the next pitch and I didn’t miss it that time.”

The ball barely cleared the left-center wall, but Van Horn said everyone in the dugout knew it was gone off the bat.

“He timed him up a couple other pitches and hit a fastball that, from a lefty like that who’s 92 miles per hour, you have to guess and cheat a little bit,” Van Horn said. “He got one in his wheelhouse and he was connected when he hit it - everything was lined up perfectly and it jumped off his bat.”

In the blink of an eye, Arkansas’ lead went from 1-0 to 7-0 and before the dust settled, it added two more runs on an RBI double by Trevor Ezell and RBI groundout by Goodheart.

McFarland Delivers

The fact McFarland was in position to be at the plate with the bases loaded was somewhat of a surprise. The suspension of Heston Kjerstad moved Goodheart to right field and opened a spot in the lineup at designated hitter.

Van Horn thought about who he’d start quite a bit Friday night and narrowed it down to McFarland and freshman Trey Harris before making his decision.

“If you’re going on batting average, maybe I should have gone with the other guy,” Van Horn said. “I just thought McFarland, he’s been working hard, he hasn’t complained, he hasn’t been playing, he’s a junior and I’m going to give him the first shot to step up and help us out in this situation and he did it.”

McFarland found out he’d start about four hours before the game and - despite a .184 batting average - he came up big for the Razorbacks.

He singled up the middle in his first at bat and then beat out an infield single in the fifth, eventually coming around to score the game’s first run. Even when he made an out, he put the ball in play and moved a runner into scoring position.

“I thought he had a great day,” Van Horn said. “He seemed confident. He didn’t seem like he was in a hurry to get out of there. He thought he could get the job done and I liked that.”

Kostyshock’s Return

When Noland exited in the eighth, the Razorbacks brought in junior Jacob Kostyshock for his first appearance since missing the last two weeks with elbow inflammation.

He got Jake Mangum to fly out to end the eighth inning and then started the ninth with another fly out, but ran into trouble with two walks sandwiched around a hit. Although he left with the shutout intact, Kostyshock was charged with two runs because Zebulon Vermillion gave up a two-run single to Rowdey Jordan before ending the game.

“He was a little erratic the second inning, obviously - he walked two and gave up a hit,” Van Horn said. “I’m glad he got that out of his system.”

Van Horn said Kostyshock would rest Sunday and get a light practice and workout Monday. Depending on how that goes, there’s a chance he could throw an inning Tuesday “just to get him some work and try to sharpen him up a little bit.”

Other Tidbits

~With beautiful weather and Arkansas playing well, Saturday’s game drew the best crowd of the season with a paid attendance of 11,087 and “tickets scanned” number of 8,823. The paid number ranks 15th in Baum-Walker Stadium history and ninth for regular-season games.

~The sweep improves the Razorbacks’ record in Fayetteville to 55-8 (.873) over the last two seasons. Interestingly, the last four series between Arkansas and Mississippi State have been sweeps, with the home team winning each time.

~With a first-pitch single in the first inning, Goodheart extended his hitting streak to 13 games.

~Kjerstad was suspended for Saturday’s game after being ejected for arguing balls and strikes in the seventh inning Friday. It was the first time he’s missed a start in his career, as he started the first 108. Although he had to leave the stadium when the Razorbacks started batting practice, he still came in and got a weight workout in the morning. “I’d like to see that kid come out on Tuesday and hammer,” Van Horn said. “Maybe he needed a little break, maybe it’ll be good for him.”

~Mangum went 0 for 4 on Saturday to snap his 20-game hitting streak. He is still six hits away from breaking the all-time SEC record held by LSU’s Eddy Furniss.

~Arkansas superfan Canaan Sandy, who had a recent health scare, was in attendance and actually threw out the ceremonial first pitch before the game.

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