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FAYETTEVILLE — For two years, Friday nights have been about as close to a guaranteed win for Arkansas as possible.
The Razorbacks’ last two aces went a combined 26-1 with a 2.46 ERA, but Blaine Knight and Isaiah Campbell are gone - both as top-90 picks in the MLB Draft - and head coach Dave Van Horn must figure out who’s next.
Luckily for him, the veteran coach can choose between a pair of SEC All-Freshman selections who followed Campbell in the weekend rotation last season.
As things stand three weeks out, right-hander Connor Noland - who didn't play football in 2019 to focus on baseball - would get the nod in the Feb. 14 opener against Eastern Illinois, followed by left-hander Patrick Wicklander in Game 2.
“They’ve both looked really good so far and done really well,” Van Horn said Friday. “Obviously they both want to pitch first. To me they all count the same, so it could flip around, but I’d say as of right now that’s probably what you’ll see right out of the gates.”
Where things get less certain is behind Noland and Wicklander, as the Razorbacks will need a third weekend starter and one or two midweek starters to fill out their rotation.
Arkansas has four two-game series and another five single matchups on its midweek schedule this year, plus a four-game series against Gonzaga the second weekend of the season.
“The pitchers know right now we’ve got two guys who are going to get the ball first and that that third spot is wide open,” Van Horn said. “We play a lot of mid week games early; we play a lot of good teams - OU mid-week games, Gonzaga four games. That’s going to stretch your pitching a lot, so guys are going to get an opportunity and it’ll work itself out.”
The good news is that Van Horn is confident he has plenty of options. In fact, there are so many that he brought a list of them to press conference so he wouldn’t forget any.
Now in his fifth season at Arkansas, Kevin Kopps would appear to be a frontrunner to earn that No. 3 spot, as he started both of the fall scrimmages. Before missing the entire 2018 season because of Tommy John surgery, the right-hander made five starts - including the SEC Championship Game and Game 1 of the regional final - and posted a 3.31 ERA in 49 innings as a redshirt freshman in 2017.
