The Arkansas Razorbacks have been bitten by the injury bug on the mound throughout the season, but head coach Dave Van Horn seemed confident that a couple of his top arms could return this weekend at No. 3 LSU if the situation is right.
While speaking at the Swatter's Club luncheon on Monday, Van Horn seemed highly optimistic that redshirt freshman southpaw Hunter Dietz could make his first appearance since April 9, 2024 when he appeared for 1/3 of an inning against San Jose State.
"We’re just going to see what situation we have and just probably put him in," Van Horn said. "He’s got really good stuff. If he can go in there and he can pitch like we know he can, it might not happen right away, but he definitely can help us."
When asked if he considered putting Dietz in during Arkansas' 9-0 Thursday victory over Texas, Van Horn said "not really" as the Hogs' Skipper was more concerned with "moving on to the next day so we could have a good taste in our mouths so to speak."
Dietz was slated to pitch during the mid-week series against Little Rock in April, but a now well-documented "freak accident" occurred when a stretch band used to warm up arms for games detached from where it was bolted on the wall and hit Dietz in the face.
Luckily, the end result was only 10 stitches and having to sit out a little longer as opposed to the multitude of bad things that could have happened.
"The crazy thing is the band did not break, he pulled it out of the wall like a slingshot," Van Horn said. "It could have been tragic. With the bolts on those things it is like how did it happen, I do not know if it has ever happened before."
Junior lefty reliever Parker Coil has also been out nursing a back injury since aggravating it against South Carolina on March 23 but "will be on the roster. 100%."
"I think you just use him whenever you need to use him and go from there," Van Horn said of Coil.
On the season, Coil has made 10 appearances and compiled a 0.60 ERA with 15 strikeouts to just two walks in 15 innings.
While the Razorbacks also got tough news that freshman reliever Carson Wiggins will possibly miss the remainder of the season. Wiggins quickly exited the final game of the series against Florida after throwing just four pitches, but two MRIs revealed that there were not any tears in his elbow. A deep postseason run for Arkansas would be the best-case scenario for Wiggins to return in 2025.
The greatest news on the injury front has been the impressive return of junior righty Gage Wood, who came back for game two against Texas A&M and said following last Friday's win over Texas that he was "pretty close" to being back to full health. Wood has been significantly better in each of his three starts since sustaining an impingement in his throwing shoulder in Arlington (Texas) against Michigan on February 23 and DVH is nearly ready to fully turn him loose after throwing 57 pitches in four innings Friday. Minus surrendering a fourth-inning solo home run, Wood was nearly flawless against the Longhorns, allowing only two hits with no walks and a career-high nine strikeouts.
"It is getting close to that time," Van Horn said. "When you say 'let him go' you're talking 80, maybe 75 (pitches). Kind of depends on how stressful of a 75 pitches it has been or a lot of traffic on the bases, temperature, all of those play a part in it.
"But he's probably ready to go now."
