Noland dealing with forearm injury
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FAYETTEVILLE — Connor Noland is dealing with a forearm injury and is expected to miss at least a couple more weeks, HawgBeat has confirmed.
The right-hander hasn’t pitched since March 5 against Murray State, when he recorded just one out and gave up three earned runs. News of his injury was first mentioned during an SEC Network-Plus broadcast and HawgBeat confirmed it through his mother, Angie Noland.
It has bothered him since the beginning of the season, but he tried to play through it before finally getting an MRI. Luckily, his mother said, the results showed no structural damage and he doesn’t need surgery, so Noland is resting and rehabbing his arm with hopes to be back in April.
Coming into the season, Noland was expected to have a major role on the pitching staff.
After starting on the weekend his entire freshman year on the 2019 College World Series team, the Greenwood native and former standout quarterback decided to quit football and focus on baseball.
He earned the Friday night role as a sophomore and posted a 2.00 ERA with 19 strikeouts and four walks in 18 innings across three starts before the season was cut short by the pandemic.
Despite that production, Noland was surprisingly left out of the Opening Weekend rotation. Head coach Dave Van Horn said he had struggled in the fall, but had started to turn a corner during the preseason practices leading up to the season.
It wasn’t until the second week of 2021 that Noland finally got on the mound and, even though he was apparently dealing with some forearm pain, made the most of the opportunity. He allowed just two hits and one unearned run while striking out five in 4 2/3 innings against SEMO.
The next week against Murray State didn’t go as well for Noland, though. As the first guy out of the bullpen in Game 1, he recorded a quick out and then - in the span of three pitches - gave up a single and two-run home run that put the Racers up.
He was pulled after a four-pitch walk to the next batter and hasn’t been back on the mound since, as he’s been trying to get healthy.