FAYETTEVILLE — Connor Noland established the blueprint for what Kole Ramage hopes to do this week.

After his worst outing of the season at Vanderbilt, Noland threw a couple of innings in a midweek start against UAPB and then dominated Mississippi State for 7 2/3 scoreless innings.

“Seeing that it’s possible to bounce back after a bad outing like that…it was an unbelievable pitching performance,” Ramage said. “It just shows how baseball is, the next outing can completely change and be way better for you.”

Ramage had struggled the last few weeks, but hopes his solid outing in Arkansas’ 19-2 win over Northwestern State on Tuesday can help springboard him into the Tennessee series much like the UAPB win did for his teammate.

In his last five appearances, the sophomore from Texas posted a 13.94 ERA in 10 1/3 innings and opponents were hitting him at a .419 clip.

Granted it was against a lineup that entered the game with the 199th-best batting average in the country, Ramage limited the Demons to one earned run on five hits and one walk while striking out five in five innings to earn the victory.

“Today felt really good,” Ramage said. “I had a couple of bad outings in the past (and) just kind of put those behind me, knew I had to go throw strikes today and it just felt good to get back to where I know I should be.”

Head coach Dave Van Horn described the performance as “pretty good,” noting that there a few times Ramage didn’t bury pitches in two-strike counts.

However, he was pleased that he made it through the fifth, especially when three of the first four batters that inning hit singles. Ramage struck out two of Northwestern State’s better hitters to get out of the jam allowing just one run.

“It was good to get him out there and let him throw some pitches and get extended a little bit, break a sweat,” Van Horn said. “I feel like he got better tonight, so that was big.”

It took 72 pitches, but Ramage’s five innings were a career long, surpassing the 4 2/3 he went in the 15-inning win over Auburn earlier this season and in a start at Georgia last season.

“I felt relaxed like everything was kind of there for me,” Ramage said. “Five innings really didn’t seem that long, just going out there and throwing a lot of strikes and getting people out.”

The difference in how he pitched Tuesday compared to his previous five outings was the result of a technical change he started working on last week.

Ramage and pitching coach Matt Hobbs noticed he “was coming around the ball” on his fastball, not allowing him to locate it as well as he would like.

“I just wanted to get the ball to where I can throw it glove side, as well,” Ramage said. “I’ve been consistent with getting it into righties and away from lefties, but being able to work my fastball glove side as well was a big part of what we were trying to fix because then it puts in a tunnel for my other pitches as well and makes it harder for the other people to hit.”

The hope is the midweek start got that issue fixed and he’ll be effective again on the weekends.

Three of the Razorbacks’ final four regular-season SEC opponents currently ranked, with No. 20 Tennessee up next, so they’ll need all of the arms they can get. Ramage is particularly important because his 42 innings are third on the team behind Noland (43) and Isaiah Campbell (66 1/3).

“We need him to give us some innings at least one game this weekend,” Van Horn said. “If they’re quicker outings, maybe twice. He’ll be ready for Saturday or Sunday or both. We’ll see how it goes.”

By going five innings, Ramage also allowed Van Horn to stick to his plan Tuesday night. Zebulon Vermillion, Kevin Kopps and Jacob Kostyshock each threw one inning and Jacob Burton was on the mound in the ninth before rain ended the game.

For Kostyshock, it was his second appearance since returning from injury. Considering the margin, the Razorbacks were just going to go straight to Burton in the eighth, but Kostyshock convinced them to give him an inning.

He issued a leadoff walk and the second batter reached on an error, but Kostyshock got out of the inning with a double play and fly out.

“He was adamant, ‘I really want to go out on the mound,’ so that was good,” Van Horn said. “I think he’ll be ready to go this weekend.

“He missed a couple of weeks and didn’t get to pick up a ball for a while, then got back and was a little rusty. But he’s throwing the ball with good velocity.”

Van Horn has not announced a starter for Wednesday afternoon’s game, but mentioned it would likely be redshirt sophomore Marshall Denton - who has started three midweek games this season - or freshman Elijah Trest.

Beyond that, the Razorbacks will use several young pitchers. Burton, Liam Henry, Evan Taylor, Collin Taylor, Carter Sells and Caden Monke are all possibilities.

First pitch is scheduled for 3 p.m. and the game will be streamed on SEC Network-plus, meaning it can be watched online on ESPN3.com or on the WatchESPN app.

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