Dave Van Horn reveals pitching plan for USC series

FAYETTEVILLE — The weather threw Dave Van Horn a curveball and now he’s having to get creative with his rotation this week.

Because the Razorbacks’ opener was postponed a day and they begin their series at USC on Thursday, ace Isaiah Campbell won’t be able to pitch Game 1. He’ll get the nod Friday, with freshman Connor Noland following him on Saturday.

Instead, redshirt junior Cody Scroggins will make the first start of his career Thursday, with first pitch in Los Angeles scheduled for 7 p.m. local, 9 p.m. CT. The other two games start at 8 p.m. CT.

Arkansas will likely piece the series opener together with about three different pitchers, Van Horn said, so Scroggins might not be asked to give a full-length start. Just being able to throw at all, though, is an encouraging sign for the right-hander.

Scroggins was the first pitcher out of the bullpen on Opening Day, but lasted only one inning in which he threw 28 pitches. He complained of arm stiffness once he got into the dugout, so the coaches decided to be cautious and not put him back out there, especially considering he’s two years removed from Tommy John surgery.

“I don’t know what he did,” Van Horn said. “Maybe he just tweaked it, scared himself a little bit. It’s early. A lot of times this happens, but he’s good to go.”

Originally an infielder, Scroggins has a career ERA of 4.84 in 22 1/3 innings spread across 24 appearances. Van Horn said he’s liked what he’s seen from the right-hander in practice and feels good starting him - like he’ll do at USC - or using him in long relief or at the end of games.

One of the pitchers who could be called upon Thursday is redshirt junior Kevin Kopps. The right-hander is still working his way back from Tommy John surgery that wiped out his 2018 season and did not see the field against Eastern Illinois.

Van Horn said he looked good in a recent bullpen session at practice, so he should be ready to make his season debut at USC. When he does, it will be Kopps’ first appearance since starting the game Arkansas beat Missouri State at 3 a.m. back on June 4, 2017.

“He pitched pretty well early in spring practice, had a little bit of a setback in our opinion - just some soreness that we didn’t like,” Van Horn said. “He didn’t like it obviously, (so) we skipped him last week. … He should be good to go this week.”

Another option out of the bullpen could be freshman left-hander Patrick Wicklander, who burst onto the scene by striking out the first three batters he faced on just 10 pitches. He ended up throwing 31 pitches Sunday and Van Horn has mentioned him as a potential midweek starter.

With a matchup with Memphis looming next Wednesday, it would make sense for him to throw early in the series at USC.

As for the starters, the Razorbacks are hoping for a repeat performance from the opening weekend sweep of Eastern Illinois. Overall, Van Horn was pleased with their performance. They combined to allow only three earned runs in 14 2/3 innings, giving them a 1.84 ERA.

All three runs were charged to Campbell, who retired the first 12 batters of the game before sitting in a cold dugout during a long half inning by his offense.

After throwing 83 and 73 pitches last weekend, respectively, he and Noland will have slightly increased pitch counts in Los Angeles. Van Horn said they will likely throw between 80-85 pitches.

“When you think about it, 90 to 100 is all we let them throw usually during the year unless it’s an easy 90 to 100 and it’s a little warmer,” Van Horn said. “It really just depends on are they working out of the stretch, are they in jams all the time and getting out of them, being able to stay in the game?”

Noland was Arkansas’ only starter who failed to make it through the fifth inning, but he was still impressive with seven strikeouts and only four hits allowed in 4 2/3 innings.

Two of those hits didn’t reach the outfield and at least two of them, according to Van Horn, came on mistakes when he was up in the count. In fact, both infield singles and one of the other hits came on 0-2 counts, while the fourth was on a 1-2 pitch.

“Connor made a couple of bad pitches on 0-2 counts,” Van Horn said. “He gave up two singles up 0-2 and gave up a pop up that we felt he was lucky that he got away with, but he’s learning from that.”

The best start may be been by junior Jacob Kostyshock, who scattered three hits and two walks across five scoreless innings. The most surprising part of his outing was that he struck out only three batters.

“He didn’t strike out as many as we thought he might or he probably thought he would, but I liked the fact that he battled back,” Van Horn said. “He was behind the count a lot, 3-1, 2-0, and came back and got hitters. I’d like to see him get ahead a little bit more.”

Considering he threw 74 pitches on Sunday, Kostyshock won’t be available Thursday, but he could come out of the bullpen Friday or Saturday.

Much like several of the pitchers on the staff, Van Horn is comfortable with him starting games or coming on in relief.

“Bottom line, we want to win the series, but we’re going to try to win every game,” Van Horn said. “We just try to play it smart and use him at the right time. We just feel like a lot of these guys are versatile.”

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