FAYETTEVILLE — Ace left-hander Patrick Wicklander will return to his spot at the top of the weekend pitching rotation for the No. 1 University of Arkansas baseball team Friday at LSU.
Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn made that announcement, as expected, in a video conference with reporters Wednesday to preview the Razorbacks series against the Tigers, who have shown signs of emerging from a funk.
Wicklander (2-1, 2.20 ERA), a junior, will start on the weekend for the sixth time this season and in the lead spot for the fifth time as part of an Arkansas pitching staff that has adapted to changing conditions, varying amounts of rest and player availability throughout the year.
Van Horn said right-hander Peyton Pallette (1-2, 3.98) will start Saturday’s 6:30 p.m. game, and Sunday’s starter will be announced later.
Van Horn and pitching coach Matt Hobbs have plenty of options for the Sunday game, including lefty Lael Lockhart (1-1, 4.38), whose streak of starting on nine consecutive weekends came to an end last week at No. 11 South Carolina.
The Razorbacks managed to win the South Carolina series despite having their pitching plans scrambled due to a doubleheader on Saturday the weekend before, a short week and bad weather that forced a Friday doubleheader in Columbia, S.C.
Zebulon Vermillion (2-0, 4.11), whose pair of eight-inning starts at Louisiana Tech and versus Alabama on consecutive Saturdays are the longest by an Arkansas pitcher this year, could also get back in the rotation.
“I think Lockhart would be an option,” Van Horn said in regard to the Sunday game at LSU. “I think Vermillion would be an option. Those would be the two that jump out at me because they have experience starting for us this year.”
Another possibility is junior Caleb Bolden (2-0, 4.39), who allowed 1 run on 2 hits and 3 walks in 3 1/3 innings of last Thursday’s 6-1 win over South Carolina.
The Razorbacks are 7-0 in Bolden’s starts and 6-0 when Vermillion starts.
Bolden and junior right-hander Connor Noland, who is back from a layoff to rest an arm issue, loom as X factors for the Hogs’ pitching against LSU.
“Well Bolden would be a guy, too, that if we don’t use him the first two days out of the pen, maybe long relief, first guy to go long for us if things don’t go well with the starter, you’ve got to have somebody kind of penciled in to do that,” Van Horn said. “And that would be Caleb right now. But he would be available to start Sunday as well.
“You know if we can get these guys back out there that have been a little banged up a little bit like Noland and you could have some success, and not using Lockhart all last week, if he could give us some innings, whether he starts or comes out of the pen and gives us a few quality innings, that would be big.”
Arkansas used just eight pitchers at South Carolina, with ace right-hander Kevin Kopps (6-0, 0.97) and lefty Caden Monke (5-1, 5.21) pitching twice for a staff with a 4.08 ERA, which ranks 58th in the nation and eighth in the SEC. Lockhart and freshman right-hander Jaxon Wiggins did not pitch on the weekend for the first time this season.
“Just trying to get it going a little bit,” Van Horn said of the staff. “Wiggins didn’t throw last weekend and he’s ready to go. We feel like every team does, if they’re rested up with their pitching, that we should be able to use some guys at least one time and maybe a couple of guys twice.”
The sophomore Pallette has bounced from Friday night starter to open conference play to long relief and back to the rotation. His work out of the bullpen proved critical in series wins over Mississippi State and Auburn before he rejoined the rotation April 10 at Ole Miss.
In his last two outings, Pallette allowed no runs on three hits and no walks in six innings of a no-decision in a 2-1 win over Texas A&M. He then gave up 2 runs on 2 hits and 3 walks in 5 1/3 innings of a no-decision in a 6-2 loss at South Carolina.
Van Horn and Hobbs were eager to get longer starts out of their weekend pitchers the last two SEC series, and Wicklander and Pallette delivered as the Razorbacks went 4-2 against the Aggies and Gamecocks.
It’s the third game where length and performance from the starter have presented issues in recent weeks, even though Arkansas has an 8-2 record in the last game of its weekend series.
Lockhart has made it into the sixth inning only once in his last five starts. He’s allowed three or more runs in each of his last three appearances, and his ERA has risen from 2.77 to 4.38 in that span.