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FAYETTEVILLE — Coming off back-to-back trips to the College World Series for the first time in school history, Arkansas returns to the diamond Friday night.
The Razorbacks are hosting a scrimmage against Oklahoma at 7:30 p.m. inside Baum-Walker Stadium. Much like last year - the first year the NCAA allowed fall scrimmage - it will be a 14-inning game.
The first nine innings will be treated like a true game, while the last five innings will be an opportunity to play a lot of young players and work on situation stuff. Head coach Dave Van Horn said there won’t be as big of a break after the ninth inning as last year against Wichita State, but there would be 7-8 minutes between so the grounds crew can drag the infield.
The late start - an hour and a half later than the Wichita State matchup last year - is because NCAA rules prevent players from missing classes for these fall scrimmages.
“They’re having to wait for most of their guys or all their guys to get out of class so they can get over here,” Van Horn said. “Last year, Wichita State, the way their schedule worked out, most of their guys were out on Friday early (and) the ones that weren’t, they actually came a little later.”
It is likely that the Razorbacks and Sooners won’t finish up Friday until close to midnight.
Admission for the event is free and gates open at 6:30 p.m., with seating throughout the stadium being on a first-come, first-serve basis.
Light concessions will be available via cash only and fans are allowed to bring in food and beverages, with the exception of alcohol. Coolers will be allowed in the Hog Pen, as usual.
Here are a few more notes on the upcoming scrimmage…
Pitching Plan
Interestingly, Arkansas will not be starting one of its Freshman All-SEC selections who ended last season in the weekend rotation Friday night.
Instead, fifth-year player Kevin Kopps is getting the nod. The right-hander came back from Tommy John surgery and was one of the Razorbacks’ top long relievers in 2019, posting a 6-3 record with a 3.89 ERA and 52 strikeouts in 41 2/3 innings over a team-high 30 appearances.
A player who has redshirted twice - once traditional and once medical - and pitched two years, Kopps was draft eligible this summer, but was not selected.
“He told them he was coming back for the most part, so we’re not giving it to him, but he’s pitched really well and he’s been very consistent,” Kopps said. “He’s probably pitched better than a couple other guys that are pitching behind him, so we said, ‘Hey, he’s been here a while, let’s let him start the game.’”
After a couple of innings, Arkansas will turn to Connor Noland and Patrick Wicklander in an undetermined order. Both pitchers ended their freshman seasons in the weekend rotation and were expected to compete for the ace role, replacing Isaiah Campbell.
Noland, a right-hander, had an unimpressive 3-5 record last season, but had a better ERA (4.02) and fewer walks (14) in more innings (78 1/3) than his left-handed counterpart. It’s also worth noting that he did so while juggling two sports, but has now decided to leave football and focus solely on baseball - already leading to an uptick in velocity.
Wicklander (6-2, 4.32 ERA) was more of a power pitcher with 90 strikeouts in 66 2/3 innings. That’s an average of 12.2 per nine innings, compared to Noland’s 6.3. He also held opponents to a .209 batting average, which was just five points higher than Campbell. Where he struggled was with his command, leading the team with 37 walks and 11 hit batsmen.
“Those guys, if it goes good, might all go around two innings max,” Van Horn said. “Then maybe we’ll just run a bunch of single innings out there, one inning for a bunch of guys.”
Projected Lineup
Based on his comments Thursday afternoon, it sounds like Van Horn has almost completely settled on his starters for the Oklahoma scrimmage. Below is that lineup, plus some additional notes…
C - Casey Opitz
1B - Heston Kjerstad
2B - Jacob Nesbit
