Ramage gets nod as Diamond Hogs tweak weekend rotation
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FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas will keep its two aces on normal rest despite beginning a four-game series against Gonzaga on Thursday.
Head coach Dave Van Horn announced Tuesday that junior Kole Ramage will start Game 1, allowing sophomores Connor Noland and Patrick Wicklander to pitch on Friday and Saturday again. He didn’t name a starter for Sunday’s fourth game.
“Ramage was the guy we almost started the opening weekend, but we wanted to keep him out of the pen,” Van Horn said. “He threw well enough in preseason to be one of those starters.”
The decision to start Ramage isn’t particularly surprising because Van Horn has said since the end of last season that he was a contender for the third spot in the weekend rotation. However, he’ll be on short rest after throwing 45 pitches in Sunday’s finale against Eastern Illinois.
In two scoreless innings, Ramage allowed two base runners - one hit and one walk - and struck out two to earn the win. Van Horn said he and pitching coach Matt Hobbs had already talked about starting Ramage on Thursday, but they wanted him to get some work on opening weekend in what was essentially a bullpen session.
Despite a 7-1 record, the right-hander from Texas posted a 5.25 ERA with 29 walks and a team-high seven wild pitches in 60 innings last season. Now a junior, the Razorbacks are counting on him to make a big jump in 2020, with his fifth career start Thursday being a key moment.
“He’s got four pitches that are working really well,” Noland said. “Obviously he’s a guy that’s been there and been in some big action, so excited for him to get his first start and I think he’s going to do well.”
The two pitchers following Ramage will be looking to build off their first starts as the featured guys on Arkansas’ staff.
In the opener, Noland had a career-high 11 strikeouts and allowed just one unearned run on two hits and one walk in 6 2/3 innings. The performance earned him SEC Pitcher of the Week honors. Wicklander wasn’t quite as efficient in Game 2, but still turned in five scoreless innings with seven strikeouts while giving up only three hits and two walks.
Although they’ll eventually be asked to pitch on one less day of rest, with two SEC series beginning on a Thursday after a traditional Friday-Saturday-Sunday series, Noland and Wicklander won’t be forced to speed up that process.
“Obviously we get to stay in the standard routine staying on Friday, Saturday and Sunday for all the guys that pitched last week,” Noland said. “Just getting in that rhythm each week and carrying it through is going to be good for us.”
Another thing Van Horn and Hobbs must consider when putting together the pitching plan for this weekend is the weather.
Thursday’s game has already been moved up an hour to 2 p.m. because of cold temperatures and there’s a chance of rain Saturday and Sunday. A decision likely won’t be made until Thursday, but Van Horn didn’t rule out the possibility of a Friday doubleheader.
There are a lot of moving pieces still, so Van Horn didn’t want to name a starter for the series finale scheduled for Sunday. Freshman Blake Adams started Game 3 against Eastern Illinois, but went just three innings and gave up a couple of earned runs on six hits.
Another option is fifth-year junior Kevin Kopps, who threw only 13 pitches in one inning to close out Friday’s 5-1 win over the Panthers. However, his role is still up in the air.
“He could possibly start,” Van Horn said. “We’re going to do what we need to do with our bullpen to try to win a few games, or Game 1, then kind of re-arrange after that.”