HOOVER, Ala. — It may have been a no decision, but Patrick Wicklander showed some encouraging signs on the mound Wednesday afternoon.
The freshman left-hander held Ole Miss’ talented offense scoreless for four innings in Arkansas’ 5-3 win at the SEC Tournament.
Although he ran into some trouble in the fifth and both of the runners on base when he left the game eventually scored to give him two earned runs, it was a solid bounce-back performance for Wicklander after his consecutive subpar outings.
“His stuff was really good,” head coach Dave Van Horn said. “His changeup was real good, his breaking ball was okay. Then towards the end, he got behind in the count a little bit and made a couple mistakes.”
Wicklander had given up seven earned runs on eight hits and five walks in four combined innings against LSU and Texas A&M, so two earned runs on two hits and one walk in 4 1/3 innings was a step in the right direction.
The biggest difference for him was not falling so far behind in the count. Although he threw only six first-pitch strikes against 18 batters, Wicklander got behind 2-0 just three times. Against the Aggies, he threw eight of 11 first-pitch balls and was behind 2-0 five times.
“The other day…he didn’t throw enough strikes,” Van Horn said. “It was ball one all the time. Today he was a little bit better.”
In addition to the one walk, Wicklander also hit two Rebels with pitches and had a pair of wild pitches. Only 36 of his 69 pitches (52.2 percent) were strikes, as well, so he wasn’t as sharp as he’s been in a few of his other starts.
That makes his four scoreless innings to start the game even more impressive.
“He still struggled with command at times today, but he fought through it and got us into the fifth inning,” closer Matt Cronin said. “I think that was huge for getting our club started off on the right track today.”
Van Horn said they weren’t planning on letting him go more than five innings and he got within a couple outs of that length.
Not only did Wicklander appear to be getting tired, as he gave up a one-out single to Anthony Servideo and walked Justin Bench, the nine-hole hitter, but he also seemed to lose focus.
After a wild pitch moved Servideo to second base, the freshman stopped paying attention to him. That enabled him to get a great jump on first movement and steal second despite a great throw by Casey Opitz.
It was a play Van Horn knew was coming and one Wicklander might have prevented with a pickoff move.
“Those are the little things where we’re coaching him, we’re teaching him,” Van Horn said. “You hope it doesn’t happen next week. … He’s got to feel that and see that.”
Had he attempted the pickoff, there’s a chance Wicklander could have gotten him for the second out of the inning and then used that momentum to retire Bench, who was just 1 for 11 (.091) on the season.
Instead, he threw three straight balls after the stolen base and Van Horn was forced to bring in Kevin Kopps with runners on the corners, ending Wicklander’s day after just 4 1/3 innings.
“He might have finished that inning and got a W next to his name,” Van Horn said. “But after that it pretty much didn’t go good, and we had to go him.”
Van Horn sounded optimistic that Wicklander would continue his upward trajectory in next week’s NCAA Regional, as he’ll get the start in one of the games.
The Razorbacks, though, return to action at 4:30 p.m. Thursday against No. 6 Georgia, the No. 3 seed in the SEC Tournament. The game will be televised on the SEC Network.
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