HawgBeat's coverage of the Razorbacks' Road to Redemption in Omaha is brought to you by Arkansas Oral Surgery, which has offices located in Conway and Russellville.

FAYETTEVILLE — Friday might not the only time Connor Noland pitches in the Fayetteville Regional.

The freshman right-hander needed only 58 pitches to get through 5 1/3 innings before being lifted from Arkansas’ 11-5 win over Central Connecticut State.

As he’s been in his last few outings, Noland was very efficient and gave up only two runs - one earned - on two hits and no walks. He could have pitched deeper into the game, but head coach Dave Van Horn was already thinking ahead to potential regional final games.

“His pitch count was real low and we were already in the sixth inning,” Van Horn said. “We felt like if we need to use him again Sunday or Monday - if needed - we would definitely be able to bring him back with the number of pitches he threw.”

If the Razorbacks win Saturday’s game against the Cal-TCU winner, they would advance to the regional finals Sunday night. However, a loss would require them to play twice Sunday and Monday, which could put a strain on the pitching staff.

Noland’s two strikeouts don’t jump off the page, but he made his living as a ground ball pitcher. That’s how he got 10 of his 16 outs and should have gotten two more that were instead errors.

“When he’s getting ground balls he’s the got the 2-seamer sinking and running,” Van Horn said. “He pitches to contact and that’s what we wanted him to do.”

Sure enough, Noland threw 42 of his 58 pitches for strikes, which is an incredible 72.4 percent. That is actually a little higher than the 67.8 percent he threw for strikes in his starts at Texas A&M and in the SEC Tournament.

The only two hits he allowed came after retiring the first nine batters of the game and were a line drive barely out of shortstop Casey Martin’s reach and a blooper that landed just inside the right field line. That set up a sacrifice by TT Bowens for the lone earned run allowed by Noland.

“I was just attacking the zone today, throwing strikes, filling it up, keeping them off balance with off-speeds,” Noland said. “I think that’s just really been the key for me having a successful outing.”

Although he has strung together several solid outings in a row, Noland’s performance Friday was particularly impressive because it came on the biggest stage of the season so far.

Getting the nod so Arkansas could save ace Isaiah Campbell for Game 2, the freshman was not fazed by pitching in the NCAA Tournament and in front of the announced crowd of 10,037 at Baum-Walker Stadium.

“There were a lot of fans out there today and they came out and showed us a lot of support and we appreciate that,” Noland said. “Other than that it wasn’t much different, just another game and I went out there and played the same way.”

Noland probably should have made it through the sixth inning, but Casey Martin sailed a throw over Trevor Ezell’s head to allow the leadoff man to reach and then Ezell couldn’t quite handle a throw from Martin to let the next guy reach.

The errors didn’t seem to bother Noland, as he bounced back with another ground out. With Bowens - the Blue Devils’ slugger who crushed a three-run homer later in the game - coming up for the third time, though, Van Horn decided to turn to his bullpen.

A third error in the inning brought in a run to pull Central Connecticut 6-2, but reliever Kevin Kopps limited the damage by striking out Dave Matthews and Buddy Dewaine - two of the Blue Devils’ better hitters.

“I thought they stepped up a notch and went to the bullpen and all of a sudden that threat was one run instead of what we needed, which was probably three or four,” Central Connecticut head coach Charlie Hickey said. “(Kopps) came in and made some terrific pitches in some big spots. That was our window to try to close and we didn’t accomplish that.”

Kopps threw 28 pitches in 1 2/3 innings and was the only top bullpen arm Arkansas had to use Friday night, as side-armer Marshall Denton closed out the final two innings.

That means guys like long relievers Kole Ramage and Cody Scroggins, set-up man Jacob Kostyshock and closer Matt Cronin will be fresh for Saturday behind Campbell and Kopps could be available again Sunday.

First pitch Saturday is scheduled for 6 p.m., with television/live streaming information not yet available.