FAYETTEVILLE — The last week has produced two key roster revelations for the red-hot Arkansas Razorbacks baseball team just in time for the start of conference play.
Team captain Peyton Stovall returned to the lineup from his broken foot as a designated hitter in last weekend’s sweep of McNeese State, and then he started at second base for the first time Tuesday in a 4-2 win over Oral Roberts.
Junior Dylan Carter of Bentonville, a key right-handed reliever last season before his ulnar collateral injury last April, returned Sunday and has now made two appearances for the No. 1 Razorbacks (14-2), who have won 10 games in a row heading into their conference opener at 6:30 p.m. Friday against Missouri (9-8).
The return of Stovall, who has started hot with a .333 average, 4 runs scored and 7 RBI (tied for seventh on the team), comes with a domino effect. It helps solidify the infield defense and it gives Coach Dave Van Horn multiple lineup options at third base and designated hitter with Jared Sprague-Lott (.381, 1 HR, 6 RBI), Peyton Holt (.372, 5 RBI) and Nolan Souza (.364).
“He looks really confident and he looks like a polished player,” Van Horn said. “Really pretty swing. I think you can probably tell it’s a lot more powerful than it was a year ago.”
Stovall gives the Razorbacks three healthy captains, joining right fielder Kendall Diggs (.345, 3 HR, 12 RBI, team-high 14 runs) and left-handed starter Hagen Smith (2-0, 2.12 ERA), who will start Friday.
Stovall, a junior from Haughton, La., who was sidelined late last season with a labrum injury, was eager to jump back into the lineup.
“It’s been a long road for me, but it’s been great,” Stovall said after hitting a home run in his second game back in a Saturday doubleheader sweep of McNeese State. “Just working super hard. … Overall, it’s awesome and I’m super grateful to be out here with these guys.”
Stovall has had to test the stability and readiness of his right foot on several plays already. He sprinted down the line to beat out an infield chopper in his first at-bat of the season. He made a bolt from second base to home on a chopper by Ben McLaughlin (.351, 1 HR, 15 RBI) on Tuesday and made a head-first slide into home plate, where the Golden Eagles completed a second base-to-first-to-catcher double play.
Stovall also had to stand in at second base with a runner bearing down on him to complete the relay on a shortstop-to-second-to-first double play in the seventh inning against the Golden Eagles.
Stovall complimented athletic trainer Corey Wood and Dr. Robert Bradley Reeves for the work they did with him in his repair and recovery from the foot injury.
“We weren’t going to start running until [last Sunday] or Monday but the X-ray came back good and they said I was able to start running and it went really, really well,” he said. “I haven’t had any pain in my foot. It’s been good.
“It was a long first [couple of] weeks and after that, day by day, I could really tell a difference in how much healthier it was getting.”
Stovall was asked about his charge to first base on the infield single against McNeese State.
“I’d like to say I was 100[%], but I felt really slow that first at-bat,” he said. “I felt like I was running in slow motion. I’d probably say really close, 85-90[%], just ramping back up.”
Carter’s rehab and return from UCL surgery stayed ahead of pace throughout, right up until he recorded two outs in a 18-5 win Sunday over McNeese State.
He gave up a couple of hard-hit balls in the seventh inning against Oral Roberts, including a double off the glove of Ross Lovich near the top of the left-field wall, and allowed an earned run.
However, his velocity, which is touching the mid-90s, and his command were not bad for his first couple of appearances.
Van Horn said he wanted to get Carter in “a little more of a leverage situation” during the ORU game.
“The ball was coming out of his hand good,” Van Horn said. “They took a couple of good swings at him, but I was proud of him. He threw well.”
Van Horn and his staff will have additional options to consider heading into SEC play in left field, where Jayson Jones (.211, 3 HR, 13 RBI), Lovich (.370, 1 HR, 9 RBI) and Will Edmunson (.269, 10 runs, 3 RBI) have split time, at designated hitter and catcher, where Hudson White (.225, 1 HR, 8 RBI), Parker Rowland (.286), Hudson Polk (.214, 1 HR, 5 RBI) and Ryder Helfrick (.105, 1 HR, 1 RBI) have competed.