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FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas will likely continue to be without a pair of players this weekend, head coach Dave Van Horn said Wednesday.
There had been hope that outfielder Jace Bohrofen and reliever Issac Bracken would be available to play against Missouri, but that doesn’t seem to be the case any more.
Bohrofen suffered a shoulder injury when he ran into the wall during pregame warmups prior to Game 1 of the series against Illinois-Chicago on March 10.
“Jace is obviously getting close,” Van Horn said. “Not sure yet if we’re going to put him on the 27-man (roster). We don’t have to make that decision until Friday. So I would say he’s probably not going to be on this weekend…but he’s getting better.”
Van Horn said after the midweek series against Grambling last week that Bohrofen would likely not be good to go against Kentucky, but should be fine in time for the Missouri series because an MRI revealed no tears and it was just bruising that caused soreness.
Prior to the injury, Bohrofen went 6 for 12 at the plate with two doubles, a triple and five RBIs in the series against Southeastern Louisiana. To say the injury was ill-timed for the sophomore transfer from Oklahoma would be an understatement.
“The guy smokes two balls at 105 miles an hour, a couple of doubles, and you’re thinking okay here we go,” Van Horn said on March 12. “Then he runs into a wall catching a fly ball. And I don’t know when he’s coming back. It’s frustrating.”
It will be interesting to see where Bohrofen slides into the lineup when he gets healthy. The outfield became much more crowded with the emergence of Braydon Webb’s bat over the past week.
There is a five-man race between Bohrofen, Webb, Zack Gregory, Brady Slavens and Chris Lanzilli. Likely just four will be in the lineup at once, with either Slavens or Lanzilli serving as designated hitter.
Van Horn also mentioned that Bracken is close, but not ready to pitch this weekend. The right-hander has been nursing a groin injury for about two weeks and might be able to pitch during the midweek series against Little Rock next Tuesday and Wednesday.
“Probably not this weekend, but I think maybe midweek next week we can get him out there and see if he’s going to be able to be healthy enough to help us next weekend,” Van Horn said.
After missing all of last season with an elbow injury, Bracken has pitched just two innings this season. His UA debut came in 1/3 innings during the loss to Stanford at the Round Rock Classic.
The graduate transfer from Northern Colorado recorded one walk, one strikeout and a HBP while allowing no hits to the six batters he faced. His second outing was March 4 against Southeastern Louisiana, when he faced three batters and gave up one earned run with one strikeout, one walk and one HBP.
