Suggs, Fant may miss first series

Randall Fant will likely miss No. 1 Arkansas' season-opening series against Western Illinois.

— Arkansas junior reliever Colby Suggs, a preseason All-American, and senior starter Randall Fant could miss the No. 1 Razorbacks’ opening series against Western Illinois next weekend because of injuries.

Suggs has a pulled ribcage muscle and Fant has a pulled hamstring, Arkansas Coach Dave Horn said Friday.

Van Horn said he isn’t sure if Suggs, who has missed several practices, will be ready for the three game Western Illinois series, though Suggs said he is “pretty much over” the injury.

“I’m just ready to get back on the mound and get going again,” Suggs said.

Van Horn said the starting rotation has been set against Western Illinois with juniors Ryne Stanek and Barrett Astin and senior Trent Daniel. He said he hopes Fant will be able to pitch when the Razorbacks play Feb. 28-March 3 in the four-game Coca-Cola Classic in Surprise, Ariz., against Arizona State (twice), Gonzaga and Pacific.

“I don’t know if he’ll be ready for the first two weekends,” Van Horn said of Fant. “I don’t want him to aggravate it, and I feel the same way with Suggs. I’m not going to rush him, either.

“We’ve got a lot of pitchers. This might be a blessing in disguise to get some guys some experience, get some young guys out there, some guys that normally might not get to pitch as much. So we’ll get to see what they can do.”

Sports, Pages 25 on 02/09/2013