Fayetteville Regional Notebook: Pitching plans, other tidbits

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FAYETTEVILLE — When he takes the mound Friday afternoon, Brandon Fox will be pitching in front of more fans than ever before in his career.

The redshirt junior right-hander is getting the nod for Central Connecticut State in the opening game of the Fayetteville Regional against No. 5 national seed Arkansas at 1 p.m. inside what is expected to be a packed Baum-Walker Stadium.

“There’s always nerves when you start, no matter how many people are there, because you care about the game and you want to do well,” Fox said. “I think it’s just going to be exciting to look around see this place full and see how loud it gets.”

Fox has been the Blue Devils’ No. 2 starter most of the season, but usual Friday night starter Tom Curtin threw 86 pitches over 5 2/3 innings in Sunday’s NEC Tournament championship game win over Bryant.

Although he also pitched in relief in that game, Fox needed only 14 pitches to throw 1 1/3 scoreless innings and said he feels good going into Friday’s start.

That outing lowered his ERA to a respectable 3.84, but opponents are still hitting .317 against him. Fox’s arsenal includes a two- and four-seam fastball, which usually sits between 85-87 miles per hour, as well as a curveball and changeup.

“I’m going to stick to my plan, no matter who it is, so I’m going to do what I do best,” Fox said. “I’m going to go right after them and I’m going to throw strikes. I know they’ve been struggling, but this is a regional in their home ballpark, so I’m not going to expect them to continue to struggle.”

Central Connecticut could be the perfect team for Arkansas to break out of its recent seven-game slump in which it’s hitting just .199/.275/.333 and averaging 2.9 runs.

Fox and the rest of the Blue Devils’ pitchers are striking out just 5.8 batters per nine innings, which is among the 10 worst rates in Division I, so they are very much a pitch-to-contact staff.

“I know their pitching staff probably won’t walk anybody much,” Arkansas head coach Dave Van Horn said. “They throw a lot of strikes. They’re not necessarily going to strike you out either, they’re going to make you put the bat on the ball.

“Probably going to be looking for early contact. We have to do a good job of starting the count with certain pitches.”

As a No. 4 seed visiting one of the top-eight national seeds, Central Connecticut coach Charlie Hickey seems to understand his team’s underdog role.

On numerous occasions during his interview with the local media Friday afternoon, he referenced how excited his team was to make it to the NCAA Tournament for just the sixth time in school history.

“The one thing I do try to stress is that we play well,” Hickey said. “You can’t control everything else. The talent level is going to be higher than we’ve ever played and that’s okay.

“We’re going to make this a positive weekend in Fayetteville.”

Noland gets Game 1 Nod

Starting opponent of Fox will be freshman right-hander Connor Noland. He found out Wednesday that he’d be starting Friday’s game against Central Connecticut and is clearly excited about it.

“I’ve been dreaming of pitching in a regional for a long time now,” Noland said. “To be pitching on Friday, that’s a great opportunity and I’ve been dreaming about it.”

It was somewhat of a surprising decision because Van Horn has typically gone with his ace in regional opening games, but he is holding Isaiah Campbell back for Saturday’s game.

Van Horn said he likes the matchup for Noland and isn’t concerned about the stage being too big for the freshman because he’s been thrown into the fire all season.

“If we didn’t think he could handle it, then we wouldn’t stick him out there,” Van Horn said. “He pitched in front of 10 or 12 thousand here against SEC teams - big games, games to sweep people on a weekend series. It’s just another game as far as his mentality and his makeup.”

The thought is that Noland is probably good enough to beat Central Connecticut, which has a team batting average of .260, and that would save Campbell to face the much more potent offenses of Cal or TCU, which rank in the top 30 nationally in batting average and top 50 in home runs.

If the Razorbacks can win both of those games, they’d be in the driver’s seat to win the regional, needing just one more victory against a team that would have played an extra game in the loser’s bracket.

“It’s no means an insult… I understand we are coming in as a 4-seed, and that’s probably for a reason,” Hickey said. “I realize that this is sort of the best plan for them to go about that to get to 2-0 and then to have somebody ready for the championship game and that’s done everywhere.”

Noland has obviously earned the right to start the game, as well. Although he is just 2-4 with a 3.71 ERA, he has been excellent over his last seven appearances. Facing teams like Mississippi State, LSU and Texas A&M, he has a 1.56 ERA, 0.81 WHIP and 9.7 strikeout-to-walk ratio.

“I think he’s just gotten a lot better at being a strike-thrower, and he’s doing it will all of his pitches,” catcher Casey Opitz said. “He’s always had really good stuff, but at this point he’s able to command all of his pitches.”

What makes his freshman season even more impressive is that he’s done it while playing two sports. Noland didn’t go through fall practice because he was playing football for the Razorbacks and then he also juggled the two sports during spring practice.

“I’ve never had to deal with anything like it, so it was really surprising to me that he could go from not throwing a baseball until Nov. 27 to what we’re seeing now,” pitching coach Matt Hobbs said. “A guy not pitching in the fall and then doing this, I’ve really been more impressed than surprised.”

Of course, that experience of playing football - including getting a start against Tulsa - will likely help Noland when he takes the field Friday afternoon in front of several thousand fans.

“He started a game in front of 60,000, 70,000 fans up at the football field, so this is going to be nothing for him,” Campbell said. “He’s thrown in front of a big crowd against Mississippi State, LSU and he’s done really well.

“He’s not going to be fazed by anything. He might have a little bit of emotion and nerves at the beginning of the game, but once he throws that first pitch and gets a strike in there, he’ll be ready to go.”

Moving to Game 2

The move to Game 2 is new for Campbell, but it’s not something that has severely altered his preparation. The only difference is that he threw his bullpen Wednesday instead of Tuesday.

“For me, nothing changes,” Campbell said. “I’m still on my same routine and went about my business the same way I always would.”

It is somewhat of a unique situation in that he doesn’t know who he’ll face Saturday. It will either be Cal or TCU and could be in an elimination game or the all-important winner’s bracket game to improve to 2-0.

With family in town, Campbell’s not even sure if he’ll watch Friday’s 6 p.m. game from the stands or from home.

“I might come out here, but it’s not going to really be to scout or anything, just to come and watch good baseball because it’s regional baseball,” Campbell said. “I’m going to leave it to Coach Hobbs to get the scouting report.”

Cal/TCU Pitching Plan

The biggest news to come out of Thursday’s practices at Baum-Walker Stadium was that TCU is not going to throw ace left-hander Nick Lodolo in Friday’s game against Cal.

The Horned Frogs will save the projected top-10 pick in next week’s MLB Draft for Saturday and instead go with left-hander Brandon Williamson, who will likely go in the top three rounds of the draft.

Williamson is 4-5 with a 4.30 ERA and 82 strikeouts in 73 1/3 innings, compared to Lodolo’s 6-5 record, 2.48 ERA and 125 strikeouts in 98 innings.

“He’s been pitching awesome,” Schlossnagle said. “He’s going to be a really high draft pick and we feel like he’s the best guy to throw tomorrow and, for the rest of the tournament - if we’re fortunate enough to stay around - to shake things up to give us the best chance to win the tournament.”

Cal isn’t taking the same approach. The Golden Bears will throw ace right-hander Jared Horn, who is 6-1 with a 1.82 ERA and 0.96 WHIP.

It will be a new challenge for Horn, as he has typically been their No. 2 starter this year. However, he has plenty of rest because he didn’t pitch the final weekend at Washington.

“He’s been going on Saturdays for us, but he’s been our most consistent guy,” Cal head coach Mike Neu said. “I think we obviously know you have to win this first one before you put yourself in a decent position, so he probably gives us our best chance and we’re going to go with him.”

Reigning Player of the Year

Although fans at the Fayetteville Regional won’t get to see TCU’s top prospect, they’ll get to see projected top-five pick Andrew Vaughn, Cal’s star first baseman.

The reigning Golden Spikes Award winner, Vaughn was named one of four finalists for the award again this week, along with Vanderbilt’s JJ Bleday, Oregon State’s Adley Rutschman and Navy’s Noah Song.

Although he likely won’t become the first repeat Golden Spikes Award winner, Vaughn has still put up huge numbers as a junior. He’s hitting .387/.549/.728 with 15 home runs and 49 RBIs.

“He’s very advanced with his pitch selection, his pitch recognition, his ability to use the whole field,” Neu said. “As he’s gotten stronger, the power has come, too, which has really made him so dynamic.”

On top of closing in on Cal’s all-time home run record - he’s seven shy of tying Xavier Nady’s record of 57 - Vaughn has also drawn 58 walks this season. His 1.16 walks per game are second only to Rutschman (1.33) nationally.

“Any time you combine plate discipline and power, that’s a scary combination,” Schlossnagle said. “He’s a big extra-base hitter and uses the whole field to hit, so he’s obviously a guy that’s going to move quick to the big leagues and doesn’t have too many holes.”

This is Vaughn’s first time in Arkansas, but he said he has family in the state and his grandfather grew up in Little Rock.

Bowens’ Perseverance

Arguably the biggest comeback story in the Fayetteville Regional belongs to Central Connecticut first baseman TT Bowens.

After starting as a freshman and even going 3-for-8 with two RBIs in Fort Worth Regional two years ago, a torn ACL ended his sophomore season after just six games. Then during the offseason, Bowens tore his other ACL.

Despite the setbacks, he managed to rehab and get into the lineup April 10. Since then, Bowens has easily been the Blue Devils’ best hitter. He’s slashing .386/.474/.649 with 19 extra-base hits and 21 RBIs in 29 games.

“Losing him last year hurt us a lot,” Fox said. “Knowing we have a guy in the middle of the lineup that can do what he does and being a leader for us. He kind of sets the tone for the rest of our lineup. The stuff he does for us is tremendous.”

Not only that, but Bowens seems to have energized the entire lineup. Teammates Sam Loda and Dave Matthews’ batting averages before and after his return have increased by 36 and 110 points, respectively.

“When he was able to get back in the lineup about Game 25, we were able to start getting better,” Hickey said. “Other people were hitting in the order where they should hit, there wasn’t as much pressure to pitch as perfectly as we have been and when you can play this game with confidence, you’re going to play better.”

Baum-Walker > Alex Box?

The only one of Arkansas’ three regional opponents that has played in an SEC stadium this year is Cal, as it visited Baton Rouge, La., for a three-game series against LSU earlier this season.

The Golden Bears lost the series with a pair of one-run losses, but it left an impression on the players. However, based on Thursday’s practice, Vaughn seemed to give Baum-Walker Stadium the edge over Alex Box Stadium, something that should endear him to Arkansas fans.

“This is a beautiful stadium, one of the best I’ve ever been to,” Vaughn said. “We went to LSU this year and this one might top it. It’s pretty close.”

For the others, this will be an entirely new environment. Central Connecticut’s combined attendance for 19 home games was 2,542, which ranks 266th nationally.

“One of the benefits of winning a conference championship and all the accolades you get with it, you then get the pleasure of playing the fifth-ranked team in the country in front of 10,000 people,” Hickey said. “I’ve been fortunate in my career to come to a couple of these places and I know there’s a lot of passion, a lot of excitement and a huge expectation for them to win.”

TCU has actually drawn pretty well this season, averaging 4,379 fans at its 27 home games. That ranks second in the Big 12 behind Texas and 10th nationally - behind six SEC schools (LSU, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Arkansas, South Carolina and Texas A&M), the Longhorns, Louisiana-Lafayette and Nebraska.

Schlossnagle said he is excited to play in at Baum-Walker Stadium because the Horned Frogs are looking to renovate their stadium and it will give their boosters a look at one of the premier venues in the country. It will be his first time in Fayetteville since the Razorbacks moved out of George Cole Field.

“Last time I was in Fayetteville was the summer of 1994, sitting next to Coach DeBriyn at an American Legion tournament at the old field when I was an assistant coach at Tulane,” Schlossnagle said. “I’ve obviously seen it on television and Coach Van Horn has been a friend of mine for a long time.”

Injury Update on Guenther

Injuries have plagued TCU throughout the season, with numerous key players going down early in the year and other missing large chunks of the schedule.

On a positive note, it sounds like first baseman Jake Guenther, who has been battling a wrist injury suffered in a collision a couple of weeks ago, might be able to play for the Horned Frogs.

Schlossnagle said he took batting practice Thursday and that he liked what he saw.

“I don’t know if he felt great, but the ball was coming off okay, so we’re at a point where 70 or 80 percent of Jake Guenther is probably good enough to play,” Schlossnagle said. “Depending on how he feels after that today, if he feels good enough tomorrow, he’ll play.”

Guenther was the Big 12’s Newcomer of the Year after transferring in from junior college and has hit .346/.466/.569 with nine home runs and 39 RBIs. He reached base in the first 50 games of the season before the injury led to an 0-for-7 performance against Texas Tech.

Learning from Dusty

Former MLB All-Star and long-time manager Dusty Baker took in a couple of the practices Thursday, watching the Razorbacks before watching Cal and his son, second baseman Darren Baker.

Baker was with former Arkansas pitcher Gerald Hannahs. The pair played together for the Los Angeles Dodgers from 1978-1979. Hannahs is also the father of Dusty Hannahs, the standout basketball player whom Gerald named after Baker.

It wasn’t an uncommon sight for the Golden Bears, as Baker has made it a point to travel to a lot of their road games. That’s given Neu, Cal’s second-year head coach, plenty of opportunities to pick the brain of the three-time Manager of the Year who led the San Francisco Giants to the 2002 NL Pennant.

“Any time I get a chance to talk baseball with him, I’m trying to soak it in,” Neu said. “He’s been around Hank Aaron as a player and his playing days are unbelievable and that’s not even counting his coaching experience. I think I’d be dumb not to try to pick his brain and learn some things.”

Hello, Old Friends

For a pair of Razorbacks, the Fayetteville Regional will be an opportunity to see old friends.

Backup catcher Zack Plunkett began his career at TCU before transferring to Arkansas. Now a fifth-year senior and in his third season with the Razorbacks, he said he doesn’t know too many of the Horned Frogs’ players, but he does know pitcher Jared Janczak, as they were in the same class.

It was a cool moment for him when he saw TCU flash up as part of the four-team regional Monday morning.

“I was kind of surprised, but that’s something that I’ve been hoping we’d get matched up with for the past couple of years,” Plunkett said. “Seeing them show up in the regional, I smiled and a couple of guys jabbed at me because they obviously know my story. Nobody wants to beat them more than I do, so I’m excited to have them here.”

Left-hander Patrick Wicklander is one of two California players on Arkansas’ roster, but he is actually from the northern part of the state, while Dominic Fletcher is from the Los Angeles area. Because of that, he knows several of the Golden Bears’ players.

“A lot of those guys over there are my boys, actually,” Wicklander said. “I’m a Bay Area kid and a lot of them, I’ve played with or against. I’ve known some of those kids since we were 12.”

Cal was actually one of the teams that started recruiting Wicklander really early on and he said he has a pretty good relationship with Neu.

NCAA Tourney Data

As a top-eight national seed, Arkansas has an easier path to the College World Series than a large chunk of the NCAA Tournament field. As long as it keeps winning, it won’t have to leave the friendly confines of Baum-Walker Stadium for the regionals or super regionals.

However, receiving home field advantage doesn’t guarantee the Razorbacks a spot in Omaha. In fact, over the last 10 years, just under half - 39 of 80 - of the top-eight national seeds advance to the College World Series.

On top of that, only 59 of the 80 have made it into the super regionals. That means an average of two top-eight national seeds have been knocked out in their own regional each year over the last decade.

In the double-elimination regional format, winning the first game is critical for a team’s success. During that same time span, 92.5 percent of the teams that advanced to the super regionals won their first game. On average, only one team that lost its first game ended up coming through the loser’s bracket and winning the regional.

Starting 2-0 puts a team in great position to move on in the tournament, but again, it’s not a guarantee. Over the last 10 years, 81.3 percent of the teams that won their first two games reached the super regionals. That means only three teams per year - on average - lose one of their first two games and still advance.

The good news for Arkansas - if it finds itself in this situation - is that half of the teams that had to come through the loser’s bracket to make it to the super regionals were the host school.