The 2019 baseball season is finally upon us. Although it was probably the shortest offseason in school history, it felt longer because of the way Arkansas’ season ended.

Fans will finally get to wash that bad taste out of their mouths when the Razorbacks’ welcome Eastern Illinois to Baum-Walker Stadium for Opening Weekend. Here is a preview of the three-game series…

Schedule (TV)

Saturday, Feb. 16 - noon (SECN+)

Saturday, Feb. 16 - TBD (SECN+)

Sunday, Feb. 17 - 1 p.m. (SECN+)

All three games will be streamed on SEC Network-plus, meaning they can be watched online on ESPN3.com or on the WatchESPN app.

(UPDATE: Friday's game was postponed because of weather. Instead, Arkansas will play a doubleheader Saturday beginning at noon. The second game will start 30 minutes after the first ends.)

Projected Starting Rotation (2018 stats)

Saturday (1) - R-Jr. RHP Isaiah Campbell (18 games/17 starts, 5-7, 4.26 ERA, 75 K/29 BB, 69 2/3 IP)

Saturday (2) - Fr. RHP Connor Noland (HS: 10-0, 0.42 ERA, 123 K/14 BB, 66 2/3 IP)

Sunday - Jr. RHP Jacob Kostyshock (9 games/0 starts, 0-0, 6.43 ERA, 10 K/8 BB, 14 IP)

There was no suspense surrounding who would start Opening Day, but the two players following Campbell in the rotation weren’t announced until this week.

Although one of them is a true freshman, the biggest surprise to those who don’t follow the program closely might be Kostyshock getting the nod for Sunday. Over the last two seasons, he’s posted a 6.52 ERA in 19 1/3 innings.

However, he has seemingly turned a corner and was excellent in two preseason intrasquad scrimmages open to the public. In eight innings, Kostyshock gave up only one hit and one walk while striking out 12 and posting a team-best 1.13 ERA.

“It’s something I’ve been working toward for a very long time and I’m really happy to take this role,” Kostyshock said. “Definitely I think it’s come from just being here for a couple of years and trusting myself.”

The transformation from struggling bullpen arm to weekend starter started over the summer for Kostyshock. Pitching in the Northwoods League, he did well enough for Perfect Game to name him the second best prospect in the league.

He has since carried that over to fall practice and into the spring.

“Honestly, it made me trust my stuff and who I was as a pitcher,” Kostyshock said. “I was able to really establish fastballs and I think that’s where I was lacking the most.”

It also hasn’t hurt that Kostyshock has continued to put on weight. Coming to Arkansas has a 6-foot-4, 155-pound freshman from Missouri, he is now up to 180 pounds, having put on the last 10 pounds this offseason.

Campbell said he eats all the time - probably because he wants to get up to 190 by the end of the season - and that the added weight has helped his velocity.

“That kid’s worked harder than anybody on this team to get where he is now,” Campbell said. “He’s another guy…who has electric stuff and he’s just worked hard all year and it’s shown.”

As surprising as it was to see Kostyshock get the Sunday start, it was surprising even to his coaches and teammates that Noland has already worked his way into the starting rotation. He didn’t go through fall practice because he was playing quarterback on the football team, so his first live action in scrimmages wasn’t until the last three weeks.

“We all expected him to come in and be pretty good, but I think what he did this spring kind of caught us off guard,” Kostyshock said. “We were like, ‘Holy (cow). Wow, you’re really good.’”

Despite it sitting in the low 90s, Campbell described his fastball as “electric” and added that he also has really good off-speed stuff. The result was three dominant performances in intrasquad scrimmages that left his teammates singing his praises.

“I think his experience with football helped a lot,” Kostyshock said. “He’s been in front of a lot of people, so there’s no pressure for him. His stuff on the mound is awesome. He came out and he looked like he was an experienced veteran guy. It was crazy to watch him play.”

“You look at him out there on the field and he just looks like a junior,” center fielder Dominic Fletcher said. “He’s just so mature and plays so much older than his age. It was really awesome to see him go out there. And he’s got a good mix. He’s got a lot of life on his pitches.”

“It looks like he’s been here for 3 years, he looks like a junior in his draft year,” Campbell said. “You don’t see him as a freshman, he doesn’t look scared on the mound, he just gets after people, attacks them.”

In the Polls

Arkansas is a preseason top-25 team in all six major college baseball polls, with five of them having the Razorbacks between No. 13 and No. 18. In our HawgBeat Preseason Composite Poll, Arkansas checks in at No. 16. Eastern Illinois is unranked.

Weather Report

Freezing rain and frigid temperatures wiped out Friday's game. The good news is that precipitation shouldn't be an issue the rest of the weekend. According to the Weather Channel, there isn't a chance of rain Saturday until 7 p.m. - only 10 percent - and there is no chance Sunday afternoon.

The bad news is that it will still be really cold. It is expected to be 39 degrees at first pitch Saturday, with a high of 43 degrees, and a windchill that stays in the 30s because of 7-8 mph winds out of the southeast.

“Cold doesn’t affect me,” Campbell said. “Being from Kansas, I’m used to weird weathers. If it’s 30 (degrees) or it’s 70, I won’t be phased by it.”

There is a high of 42 degrees Sunday, but the windchill will be in the mid-30s because of 11-12 mph winds out of the northwest.

Scouting the Opponent

Eastern Illinois’ projected starting rotation (2018 stats)

Saturday (1) - Sr. RHP Tyler Jones (13 games/12 starts, 7-3, 3.52 ERA, 54 K/25 BB, 69 IP)

Saturday (2) - Jr. RHP Michael YaSenka (JUCO: 19 games/12 starts, 10-2, 3.00 ERA, 131 K/26 BB, 84 IP)

Sunday - Sr. RHP Spenser Dexter (18 games/7 starts, 0-2, 7.40 ERA, 40 K/26 BB, 41 1/3 IP)

Coming off a season in which it finished eight games under .500 and posted a 12-18 record in conference play, Eastern Illinois comes into 2019 with very low expectations.

The Panthers were picked eighth in the 11-team Ohio Valley - the same conference as Tennessee Tech - by the league’s coaches, but head coach Dave Van Horn said they’ll be a lot older than the Razorbacks.

“They lost a lot of players off last year’s team, but they replaced them with junior college transfers,” Van Horn said. “You get older kids, some of them don’t have Division I experience, but they are older.”

His estimate that three-quarters of Eastern Illinois’ roster was comprised of upperclassmen was slightly high. Still, the Panthers have eight seniors and 17 juniors, including three who have redshirted. With only three sophomores and nine freshmen on the roster, they are two-thirds upperclassmen.

It isn’t a big-name opponent, but Arkansas is approaching it like any other game.

“I think we treat them like Texas or LSU,” Kostyshock said. “I think that should be our plan because if we treat them lightly, I don’t think that’s going to go over well.”

The Panthers will send their preseason All-OVC selection and last year’s ace, Jones, to the mound in Game 1. Now a senior, he posted a 3.52 ERA last season.

Dexter, Sunday’s starter, was also on the team last year, but didn’t have a lot of success. The interesting piece of Eastern Illinois’ rotation pitches in Saturday's second game, as YaSenka was an all-conference performer at Chesapeake College in Maryland who averaged 14 strikeouts per nine innings.

It is unknown who Eastern Illinois will rely on to close games because Michael Starcevich - who led the team in appearances (25), saves (9) and ERA (2.92) last year - is gone.

Offensively, the Panthers are led by their only other preseason all-conference selection, senior second baseman Jimmy Govern. He hit .331 with seven home runs, 38 RBIs and eight stolen bases in 2019.

Top power hitter Dougie Parks (15 HR) and base stealer Joseph Duncan (14 SB) are both gone, but Eastern Illinois does have its top four hitters back in terms of batting average. In addition to Govern, the Panthers return junior catcher Ryan Knernschield (.331), fifth-year senior first baseman Hunter Morris (.326) and junior outfielder/shortstop Jimmy Huber (.279).

Morris is also the top returning power hitter, with 11 home runs, and led the team with 55 RBIs last season, aided by three grand slams.

This weekend’s series will be the 11th different time Eastern Illinois has traveled to Fayetteville, with the Razorbacks leading the all-time series 26-2. Arkansas doesn’t have any players left from its 2016 series with the Panthers, but it does have a player with ample experience against them.

Graduate transfer Trevor Ezell faced Eastern Illinois nine times while at Southeast Missouri State and put up monster numbers. He went 16 for 34 with five doubles, one home run, five RBIs, 21 runs, eight walks, four hit by pitches and only four strikeouts. That gives him a .471/.609/.706 slash against the Panthers.

Injury Update

Despite being limited to designated hitter status and not running the bases the last couple of weekends, it sounds like Fletcher will be in the field against Eastern Illinois.

He has been dealing with a sore arm and a tight hamstring, but neither were serious injuries.

“I feel great,” Fletcher said. “I was battling a couple minor injuries the last couple weeks, but I should be good to go by Friday.”

Luckily for him, he was still able to hit. That allowed him to continue focusing on using the whole field and striking out less. Nearly one in every five of his at bats last season ended in a strikeout.

“I think that’s one of my main focuses, cutting down on strikeouts,” Fletcher said. “(I’m) really looking for a good pitch and taking walks when I need to.”

For a more complete injury update on other Razorbacks - including Ezell - click here.

Stat of the Week

After earning Freshman All-America honors last season, Casey Martin enters 2019 with really high expectations. Several publications put him on their preseason All-American teams and D1Baseball named him the best shortstop in the country despite him never playing the position in college.

Can he live up to the hype? If his performance in the six and a half preseason intrasquad scrimmage open to the public are any indication, Martin may exceed all expectations.

Facing his teammates, he went 12 for 22 with two triples, four home runs, six RBIs, nine runs and three walks. That gives him a slash of .545/.600/1.273 for the scrimmages.

Stat Comparison - Arkansas | Eastern Illinois (2018 stats; national rank, out of 297 teams)

Batting average: .296 (23rd) | .271 (139th)

Slugging percentage: .475 (13th) | .432 (52nd)

On-base percentage: .391 (29th) | .365 (124th)

Home runs: 98 (t-3rd) | 64 (t-31st)

Runs/game: 7.0 (23rd) | 6.2 (85th)

ERA: 3.55 (29th) | 6.26 (257th)

WHIP: 1.26 (19th) | 1.74 (262nd)

Strikeouts/9 innings: 9.23 (26th) | 8.40 (91st)

Strikeout-to-walk ratio: 2.71 (20th) | 1.69 (t-198th)

Fielding percentage: .972 (92nd) | .965 (204th)

Stolen bases/game: 0.57 (261st) | 0.63 (t-243rd)

Preview Video

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