FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn said Wednesday at the monthly Swatter's Club meeting that he would load a lineup for sophomore Connor Noland to face in Friday's scrimmage.
Noland faced what looked like it could be the Razorbacks' lineup on opening day, and he handled them well the first time through the order. It was the second time through that gave Noland trouble.
In the fourth inning, the Red team rattled off five singles that gave them a 4-0 lead.
The trouble started for Noland when Casey Martin singled with one out. Casey Opitz, Cole Austin and Jacob Nesbit followed Martin's single with singles of their own, and Braydon Webb added an RBI single later in the inning.
Noland's final line was 3 1/3 innings pitched, 4 earned runs, 6 hits, 0 walks and 4 strikeouts.
Although Noland has not been named the Friday night starter, it would appear that he will take the mound first for the Razorbacks. With Noland throwing today, it gives him seven days of rest before he would return to the mound in exactly one week vs. Eastern Illinois.
Patrick Wicklander did not throw today. If what Van Horn told us at the Swatters' club remains true, then Wicklander will pitch tomorrow and face a similar lineup as the one Noland faced today, which looked like this:
1 Braydon Webb, LF
2 Christian Franklin, CF
3 Heston Kjerstad, RF
4 Matt Goodheart, DH
5 Casey Martin, SS
6 Casey Opitz, C
7 Cole Austin, 1B
8 Jacob Nesbit, 3B
9 Robert Moore, 2B
One surprise was to see Franklin batting in the two hole. Van Horn said earlier this year that he believes Franklin and Moore could be interchangeable, but it makes sense to keep the youngest player (Moore) toward the bottom of the order at the beginning of the year.
The Red team - the one with all the projected starters - put a runner on base in seven out of the eight innings it batted Friday.
Pitching for the team was Kole Ramage, who showed control and power, getting seven of the 10 outs he recorded via strikeout.
Ramage also showed some nasty movement, with three strikeouts looking.
Freshman Peyton Pallette came in for Ramage and induced a 5-4-3 double play from Cason Tollett that was started with a smooth pick and throw from Nesbit at third base.
The two most impressive hitters on the Black team were sophomore Trey Harris and redshirt freshman Zack Gregory.
Harris finished 2-for-4 with a double, single and 2 strikeouts. Gregory was 2-for-5 with 2 singles and 2 strikeouts.
Harris doubled in the fifth inning off of Pallette, and was driven home by a Gregory single.
That was the only run the Black team could push across until the last inning against redshirt junior Collin Taylor.
Taylor walked the first two batters of the inning before Harris singled, driving in a run. Then two batters later Gregory singled and moved a runner to third base. The runner from third, Curtis Washington, scored after Dominic Tamez hit a sacrifice fly to center field.
Tamez's sacrifice tied the game at five runs apiece. With one out and Gregory on third base the Black team looked poised to steal the scrimmage from the Red team, but Webb made the defensive play of the day to end in a tie.
Webb called off Franklin on a fly ball hit into left-center field by Smith. Webb caught the ball and threw a dart to Opitz, who tagged out Gregory for a double play and the final out.
The Razorbacks are scheduled to scrimmage Saturday at 1 p.m.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated Kole Ramage threw 3 1/3 innings in the scrimmage. It has been corrected to state he threw five innings.