FAYETTEVILLE -- Bryce Bonnin, who was one of the Arkansas Razorbacks' top baseball signees a year ago, is transferring, Coach Dave Van Horn said Tuesday.
Bonnin -- who starred as a hitter and pitcher at Barbers Hill High School in Mont Belvieu, Texas, and was rated the No. 9 player in the state -- was strictly a pitcher for the Razorbacks this season. He was 1-0 with a 4.26 ERA in 11 games, including one start.
Van Horn said Bonnin likely will go to a junior college where he can be a starting pitcher.
"He sees himself as a starter, and we saw him as a reliever," Van Horn said. "In my opinion, he needs to go to a junior college and they put him on the mound so he can pitch."
Bonnin had 16 strikeouts and 12 walks in 19 innings this season.
"Kind of up and down with the strike zone, a lot of things jumping around," Van Horn said. "He just needs to be ready to help his team win. He's a guy that has a lot of talent with arm strength. Hopefully, he picks the right place and has a lot of success."
Other freshmen transferring include pitchers Jackson Rutledge and Ben McClain, and outfielder Cole Turney.
Rutledge, 6-8 and armed with a fastball that at times reached 97 miles per hour, is transferring to San Jacinto (Texas) Junior College. He didn't play after throwing three wild pitches in the same inning against Alabama on April 29, and for the season he had 14 strikeouts and 11 walks in 15⅔ innings.
"He's going to go to a good program where they turn out a lot of pro guys," Van Horn said. "It'll give him an option to sign [after next season]."
Turney was slowed by ankle and shoulder injuries and went 0 for 7 in his only at-bats for Arkansas.
"Cole is going to junior college," Van Horn said. "He needs at-bats. Talking with Cole, he needs confidence. Hopefully, he can go somewhere and get in the lineup every day. I think that will be big for him."
Schedule update
Dave Van Horn said he knows Texas is motivated to play the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville in 2019.
The Razorbacks play a two-game midweek series at Texas after the Longhorns came to Baum Stadium this season and were beaten 13-4 and 7-5. Arkansas added an 11-5 victory over Texas in the opener of the College World Series in Omaha, Neb.
"They'll be waiting on us," Van Horn said earlier this month at the Harrison Area Razorback Club meeting. "They're going to save somebody really good [to pitch] for that Tuesday and Wednesday for us. But that'll be a good challenge."
Arkansas also will play a road series at Southern California, which the Razorbacks beat 2 of 3 games at Baum Stadium this season.
Van Horn said Arkansas' nonconference opponents in 2019 at Baum Stadium will include Stony Brook, which played in the 2012 College World Series; Northwestern (La.) State, where Van Horn coached from 1995-97; Louisiana Tech; and North Carolina-Charlotte.
Grambling State will be the Razorbacks' opponent when they play their annual game at Dickey-Stephens Park in North Little Rock.
Arkansas will continue its series against Missouri State with a road game after playing the Bears in Fayetteville this year.
SEC East opponents for Arkansas in 2019 will be Missouri and Tennessee at home, and Kentucky and Vanderbilt on the road.
New volunteer coach
Taylor Smart, who played at Tennessee and was a graduate assistant at Arizona last season, will be Arkansas' new volunteer coach.
This summer Smart is serving as an assistant coach for the Santa Barbara Foresters of the California Collegiate League. He also was a student coach at Tennessee.
Smart is replacing Craig Parry, who after the season was hired as the hitting coach at Abilene Christian.
Good summer
Angus Denton, a right-handed pitcher from Beebe who will be a sophomore next season after redshirting in 2018, has a 2-2 record and 5 saves with a 1.16 ERA for the Conejo Oaks of the California Collegiate League. He has 21 strikeouts and 5 walks in 23⅓ innings.
"Angus is a guy we pitched a little bit as a freshman, but not very much, and we felt like he was going to be in the same role this year," Coach Dave Van Horn said earlier this summer. "So we kind of backwards redshirted him. We redshirted him his [second] year, so now he'll be a sophomore and we feel like he'll make the team this year.
"His velocity has gotten better. He's a sidearm, submarine guy. He's a bullpen specialist type guy, and we think he'll make an impact."
Milligan to sit out
Hunter Milligan, a left-handed pitcher from Greenbrier who threw four innings this season, will miss the 2019 season because of a shoulder injury.
"I think what he's going to do is have surgery and maybe go to school closer to home and do all his rehab there," Dave Van Horn said. "Then start throwing again at the end of next year. We'll see how it goes and then see if we're going to bring him back. I'd say that's the game plan right now."
Short hops
• Heston Kjerstad and Casey Martin, who both became starting position players as freshmen, aren't playing summer baseball. They're in Fayetteville to recover from the season and are lifting weights to gain strength.
• Weston Rogers, a pitcher from Springdale Har-Ber, has graduated, gotten married and no longer will play baseball.
• Arkansas will play two exhibition games in the fall to take advantage of a new NCAA rule, but the opponent is being worked out. Oklahoma is a possibility.
Sports on 07/25/2018