NCAA Fayetteville Regional report

No issues Noland as the starter

Arkansas pitcher Connor Noland warms up Thursday, May 30, 2019, during practice and walk-through ahead of today's NCAA Baseball Regional at Baum-Walker Stadium in Fayetteville.

FAYETTEVILLE -- Central Connecticut State Coach Charlie Hickey isn't offended that the University of Arkansas will start freshman pitcher Connor Noland against the Blue Devils in today's NCAA Fayetteville Regional rather than junior ace Isaiah Campbell.

The Razorbacks are saving Campbell for Saturday's game against California or TCU.

"It's by no means an insult," Hickey said. "That's a compliment to Cal and TCU. I realize that this is sort of the best plan for [Arkansas] to go about getting to 2-0 and then to have somebody ready for the championship game. That's done everywhere."

Campbell (10-1, 2.37 ERA) is the Razorbacks' No. 1 starter, but Noland (2-4, 3.71 ERA) has a 1.56 ERA in 342/3 innings over his last 7 appearances.

"First off, he's pitched really good for the last five weeks," Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn said of starting Noland. "He's thrown a lot of strikes, three or four pitches for strikes.

"I just felt like it was a good matchup."

Van Horn said he also likes starting the right-handed Noland against a predominately right-handed hitting lineup.

"I don't think I'll be nervous," Noland said. "I'm just excited to get out there and play. I've been dreaming of pitching a regional for a long time now."

Arkansas pitching coach Matt Hobbs said he has no hesitation to start Noland in the regional opener.

"He'll be just fine out there," Hobbs said. "Not worried about the moment being too big for him."

Nice place

Baum-Walker Stadium drew rave reviews from the visiting teams.

"It's awesome," Central Connecticut State pitcher Brandon Fox said. "I think it's just going to be exciting to look around and see this place full and see how loud it gets."

California first baseman Andrew Vaughn called it a beautiful stadium.

"One of the best I've ever been to," Vaughn said. "We went to LSU this year, and this one might top it."

TCU Coach Jim Schlossnagle got his first look at Baum-Walker Stadium during Thursday's practices.

"We're getting ready to do either a brand new stadium or a major renovation in the next couple of years," Schlossnagle said. "So I'm glad our administration and some pretty high-end donors are going to be here as well to see what the best of the best looks like."

Fox and Hogs

Junior right-hander Brandon Fox (3-5, 3.95 ERA) will start for Central Connecticut State against Arkansas.

The Razorbacks have a .299 team batting average, but are hitting .157 (20 for 127) over the last four games.

"I'm going to go right after them and I'm going to throw strikes," Fox said. "I know they've been struggling, but this is a regional in their home ballpark. So I'm not going to expect them to continue to struggle.

"I know they're going to come out with energy. They're going to try to jump on the fastball. I've just got to do a good job of mixing and go from there."

Fox said he throws a fastball 85 to 87 miles an hour along with a curve ball and change up.

Golden Bear

California junior first baseman Andrew Vaughn is the reigning winner of the Golden Spikes Award presented by USA Baseball to the top amateur player in the country.

Vaughn had a .402 batting average last season with 23 home runs and 63 RBI with 44 walks. This season he's batting .387 with 15 home runs, 49 RBI and 58 walks.

"He's one of the best hitters in college baseball, an exciting guy to see," Bears Coach Mike Neu said. "He's been amazing in the middle of our order for the last three years.

"He's very advanced with his pitch selection, his pitch recognition, his ability to use the whole field. As he's gotten stronger, the power has come, too, which has really made him so dynamic.

"His progression has been pretty amazing to see and he continues to get better."

Vaughn described himself as being patient at the plate.

"I like to get my pitch to hit," he said. "I'll take my walks, and I'll hit it wherever it's pitched."

TCU will start left-hander Brandon Williamson (4-5, 4.30) against Bears right-hander Jared Horn (6-1, 1.82 ERA).

"The bottom line with Vaughn is you've just got to make sure he's hitting with nobody on base," TCU Coach Jim Schlossnagle said. "Because he obviously has the ability to change the game with one swing."

Dusty in the house

Dusty Baker, the former major league outfielder and manager, attended Thursday's practices at Baum-Walker Stadium.

Baker's son, Darren, is a Cal sophomore and starts at second base.

Darren Baker is batting .299 and is perfect on 19 stolen base attempts.

"He's an exciting player," Bears Coach Mike Neu said. "He plays great defense, really understands the game, has a good feel for the game. Grew up around a big-league clubhouse, so he's probably a little more mature than a guy his age with understanding what's going to happen next."

Neu said he's enjoyed getting to know Dusty Baker.

"I think I'd be dumb not to try to pick his brain and learn some things," Neu said." Every time I get an opportunity, I do that."

Well-rested

Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn said he made sure to get the Razorbacks a lot of rest this week.

"I feel like we've given them plenty of down time," Van Horn said. "Practices have been fairly short and to the point.

"Meetings have been short. Bullpen sessions have been normal. A couple of light weight workouts."

The Razorbacks were on the road for 10 days when they played the final regular-season series at Texas A&M and three games in the SEC Tournament in Hoover, Ala. They were a combined 2-4 on the road trip.

"It's a chance for them to get away from the game a little and the grind," Van Horn said of this week's light schedule. "The mental part of it, hang out and do whatever they want to do. I think it'll show up in our play this week.

"I'm not telling you that it's going to equal a bunch of wins, but it just means we have energy. We didn't have a lot of energy in the [SEC] Tournament."

Make it 150

Arkansas' regional opener against Central Connecticut State will be the Razorbacks' 150th game in the NCAA Tournament.

Arkansas is 83-66 all-time in the NCAA Tournament, including 23-12 in Fayetteville.

Schlossnagle: Frogs belong

Many national media expressed surprise that TCU made a regional as one of 33 at-large teams considering the Horned Frogs are No. 59 in the NCAA's Ratings Percentage Index, which ranks teams by performance and strength of schedule.

But TCU Coach Jim Schlossnagle isn't apologizing for his team being in Fayetteville.

"We sure would like to prove the [selection] committee right," Schlossnagle said. "We feel like we deserve to be here, and hopefully our play will do the talking for us."

Matt Jones of WholeHogSports.com contributed information for this article.

Sports on 05/31/2019