Razorback Pitching Staff Gains Transfer RHP From Nebraska
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The Razorback baseball team landed its 11th transfer of the offseason Saturday.
Right-handed pitcher Koty Frank announced his intention to transfer to the UofA in a tweet. The soon-to-be fifth-year senior posted a 3.81 ERA and a 1.24 WHIP in 59 innings pitched for Nebraska in 2022.
A native of Tushka, Oklahoma, Frank spent two seasons with the Cornhuskers after two years at Eastern Oklahoma State College, which has produced one incoming Razorback transfer already this offseason (Parker Rowland).
Half of Frank’s 14 appearances in 2022 were starts, and he led the Nebraska pitching staff with five wins, compared to zero losses. He walked 19 batters and struck out 70, good for a K/BB ratio of 3.68. He took the mound just one more time than he did the season before, but he more than doubled his innings (27 ⅓) and wins (three).
Frank pitched twice during the 2021 Fayetteville Regional, in which the Razorbacks won two of three games against the Cornhuskers. He recorded 11 outs in relief as the pitcher of record during the opening-round victory over Northeastern, and he was charged with the loss following Charlie Welch’s home run that elevated the Hogs to the super regional.
In two seasons at EOSC, Frank reached the top-five in both strikeouts (127) and ERA (3.33), despite the COVID-19 pandemic shortening the 2020 campaign. He went 11-6 with seven complete games. In high school, he was a member of the 2016 state championship team at Tushka, and he helped lead them to subsequent consecutive runner-up finishes.
Frank joins a pitching staff at Arkansas that needs light replenishment following the likely departures of four key pieces — left-hander Evan Taylor and righties Connor Noland, Kole Ramage and Zebulon Vermillion.