As the Stillwater Regional heads to a winner-take-all game Monday night, both pitching staffs are running on fumes.
Coming out of the loser’s bracket, Oklahoma State has played one extra game and its 12 pitchers have thrown a combined 721 pitches in four games over the previous three days. On the opposite side, Arkansas has used 11 pitchers in its three games and they’ve thrown a combined 512 pitches.
Neither team has announced a starter for the game, which is scheduled for 6 p.m. CT on ESPN2 at O’Brate Stadium, but the Razorbacks and Cowboys will likely have to piece it together on the mound.
“I need to talk to them and find out who's available, who's not,” Arkansas head coach Dave Van Horn said after Sunday’s game. “We just need to figure that out tomorrow before the game. We need to sleep on that one a little bit, let these guys rest up.”
Oklahoma State head coach Josh Holliday, whose staff had just thrown 19 innings over the last 10 hours, also didn’t reveal much about his plans for the next day.
“I’d like to go home and have dinner and figure that out,” Holliday said.
Considering they each threw more than 100 pitches Sunday, right-hander Trevor Martin and left-hander Mitchell Stone probably won’t be available, but everyone else could be on the table for Oklahoma State.
All-American ace Justin Campbell threw 89 pitches on Saturday, but it’s not outside the realm of possibility that he could give the Cowboys an inning. After all, that’s exactly what the Razorbacks did with Connor Noland in the exact same scenario Sunday night.
After pitching in that game, Noland is almost certainly out of the picture. Will McEntire threw for a second straight day and finished with 67 pitches, giving him a two-day total of 81, so his status is up in the air, but everyone else could conceivably have varying levels of availability.
The Razorbacks also have three pitchers — right-handers Austin Ledbetter and Heston Tole and left-hander Nick Griffin — on their 27-man roster who have yet to pitch this weekend, but they’ve thrown just 31 total innings this season and none of them have appeared in a game since May 3.
The Cowboys have used 25 different players so far this weekend and it’s unclear who the other two players are that would be able to play Monday night.
It’s worth noting, though, that right-hander Bryce Osmond — a weekend starter for much of the season — is not believed to be available because he’s been out since May 14 with a shoulder injury. The only other players who have pitched this season for Oklahoma State are right-hander Landry Kyle (2.2 IP), right-hander Jimmy Ramsey (5 IP) and left-hander Colton Bowman (1.2 IP). None of them have pitched since April 19.
Here’s a breakdown of both pitching staffs…