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FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas will start a freshman in its regional opener Friday, choosing to save its ace for Saturday.
HawgBeat can confirm that right-hander Connor Noland is slated to start against Central Connecticut State in the first game of the Fayetteville Regional at 1 p.m. Friday. That means right-hander Isaiah Campbell will get the nod against either Cal or TCU in the Razorbacks’ second game of the postseason.
By pitching off, head coach Dave Van Horn is breaking from his usual strategy, as he’s pitched his ace - Trevor Stephan in 2017 and Blaine Knight in 2018 - in Arkansas’ regional opener against Oral Roberts each of the last two years.
Although he hasn’t been as good as Campbell, Noland is still a very capable pitcher. The two-sport athlete is 2-4 with a 3.71 ERA in 68 innings this season, earning a spot on the SEC’s All-Freshman Team. He’s been particularly effective in his last seven starts, during which he’s posted a 1.56 ERA, 0.81 WHIP and 9.7 strikeout-to-walk ratio.
He has been a constant in the weekend rotation throughout the year along with Campbell, who is 10-1 with a 2.37 ERA. Originally the Game 2 starter, Noland has been the No. 3 starter the last several weeks.
Noland will face a Central Connecticut lineup that features only one player hitting above .300. As a team, the Blue Devils are hitting just .260 with 26 home runs. By contrast, Cal and TCU have team batting averages of .297 and .295, respectively, which rank in the top 30 nationally. They’ve also combined for 140 home runs.
That likely made the decision to move Campbell to Saturday easy for Van Horn. Going with Noland over fellow freshman Patrick Wicklander, a left-hander, was probably due to the fact that Central Connecticut hits 16 points lower against right-handed pitchers than lefties (.255 vs. .271).
Arkansas might not be the only team in the Fayetteville Regional not to throw its ace Friday. TCU head coach Jim Schlossnagle has said he’s considering holding back left-hander Nick Lodolo (6-5, 2.48 ERA), a potential top-10 pick in next week’s MLB Draft, and Cal has typically thrown right-hander Jared Horn (6-1, 1.82 ERA) in Game 2 of weekend series this season.
