Another significant contributor for the Arkansas Razorbacks is done for the season.
Head coach Dave Van Horn announced Wednesday that sophomore second baseman Peyton Stovall suffered a torn labrum and his season is over. Stovall joins pitchers Jaxon Wiggins, Koty Frank and Dylan Carter as Razorback players with season-ending injuries.
"He’s done for the year," Van Horn said. "He’s going to have surgery, probably in the next 10 days. He’s got a torn labrum. It’s not huge, but it definitely needs to be fixed. (We’ll) try to get him ready for fall ball, late fall."
Van Horn mentioned on May 1 that Stovall's arm had been bothering him for around six-to-eight weeks and after Stovall played in the series against Texas A&M that weekend, it became clear that he needed to rest.
Stovall wasn't on the 27-man roster for the past two series at Mississippi State and against South Carolina. Van Horn described the injury as tendonitis on May 4 ahead of the Mississippi State series and he then mentioned on Thursday ahead of the South Carolina series that Stovall's shoulder was not doing great.
During his second season in Fayetteville, Stovall was batting with a .253/.330/.339 with 38 hits, five home runs, four doubles, one triple and 31 RBIs. He boasted a .982 fielding percentage and made just three errors at second base across 38 games.
"I think it impacted it a lot, big-time on offense," Van Horn said of Stovall's injury. "As a matter of fact, we think he hurt it swinging. There were a couple of pitches when he swung and missed that stood out when he grimaced big time. He remembers one of them, and that was a month and a half ago."
"So, might have started out as some inflammation in there and then got better and got back out there again, and that's when we think he hurt it, somewhere in there like I said, six weeks ago. I think he's been playing in pain. He's been, honestly, probably miserable. I'm glad we know what it is and can get it fixed, and he can move on. I think he'll have a great season next year."
In place of Stovall at second has been junior Peyton Holt, who is a transfer from Crowder College. Holt batted with a .363 average and he added a pair of doubles and six runs scored over the past two weekends.
"The good thing is he’s got some experience the last few weeks to play," Van Horn said. "He’s done a really good job for us defensively and offensively, as well, obviously. So it’s not like… We’ve kind of known this was going to happen. In a way, you could kinda see it coming, some of the tests and different things, so it’s not like it’s a shock to us. We’ve known for a while."
As a freshman in 2021, Stovall started 51 games and slashed .295/.373/.425 with six homers and 31 RBIs. He was named to the Stillwater Regional All-Tournament Team and he recorded a season-high five hits and added three RBIs in Arkansas' College World Series win over Auburn.
Coming out of Haughton High School in Haughton, Louisiana, Stovall was Perfect Game's No. 11 shortstop nationally and the No. 1 overall prospect in Louisiana for the 2021 class.
