Razorback report: Noland dominates Bulldogs again

Arkansas starter Connor Noland (13) is congratulated at the dugout steps by teammates Friday, April 1, 2022, and catcher Michael Turner (right) during the second inning of play against Mississippi State at Baum-Walker Stadium in Fayetteville.

FAYETTEVILLE — For Connor Noland, there is something about pitching against the Mississippi State Bulldogs. 

Two of the three longest outings in Noland’s career have come in two starts against the Bulldogs. He pitched a career-high 7 2/3 scoreless innings against Mississippi State in 2019, and pitched seven innings Friday during Arkansas’ 8-1 victory at Baum-Walker Stadium. 

The seven-inning start tied for Noland’s second-longest career outing. He also pitched seven innings against Tennessee as a freshman in 2019, one week after the Mississippi State start. 

Noland was the Razorbacks’ No. 3 starter for the 2019 game, and he looked the part of a Friday night SEC ace this time around. He allowed 1 run and 4 hits, struck out 6 and did not walk a batter. He had only two batters go to a three-ball count against him. 

“Fastball command was the biggest thing for me,” Noland said. “I figured out the curveball in about the second inning and felt I could throw it whenever I needed it. I just got ahead in the count.”

Friday's game was Noland's second against Mississippi State. He was injured when the teams played last season.

The stat line resembled his first career start against the Bulldogs in 2019, when allowed four hits, struck out five and did not walk a batter.

Noland’s 104 pitches Friday were the second most he has thrown in a game. All three of his highest pitch counts have come in the last three weekends. He threw a career-high 109 pitches against Kentucky two weeks ago and threw 102 pitches last week at Missouri. 

“I put in a lot of work this offseason and got my body right,” Noland said. “I feel like I can do that every weekend. (Pitching coach Matt) Hobbs trusts me to go that long and my body has been feeling good enough to do it every week.” 

Bohrofen returns

Jace Bohrofen, a sophomore outfield transfer from Oklahoma, was back in the lineup Friday for the first time since March 5. 

Batting seventh as the designated hitter, Bohrofen went 0-for-3 in his return from a shoulder injury that he suffered prior to a March 10 game against Illinois-Chicago. He struck out three times against Mississippi State starter Preston Johnson and was replaced by pinch hitter Max Soliz in the sixth inning. 

Prior to the game, Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn said Bohrofen hit against live pitching all week. Van Horn said Bohrofen texted him Friday and said he was ready to play.

“He swung it well yesterday, so we thought why not, let’s get him in there,” Van Horn said on the Razorbacks’ pregame radio show. 

Bohrofen had a lengthy slump to begin the season, but had hits in 6 of 11 at-bats before suffering the injury. Three of his hits were for extra bases, including a three-run triple during a March 5 game against Southeastern Louisiana. 

“He was swinging it really well and then he obviously ran into the fence and hurt that shoulder before the ballgame,” Van Horn said. “The game before…he was looking like a force and then he went down. We just need to get him back going again.” 

Defensive struggles

Mississippi State entered the series ranked second in the SEC with a .985 fielding percentage, but committed three errors Friday. 

Shortstop Tanner Leggett dropped a popup off the bat of Cayden Wallace in the first inning; Leggett committed a throwing error after Wallace reached on a single in the second inning; and first baseman Luke Hancock was charged with an error when he failed to cleanly field a hard-hit grounder off the bat of Robert Moore in the fourth inning. 

Only one of Mississippi State’s errors contributed to an Arkansas run. Wallace scored in the second inning. 

Mississippi State coach Chris Lemonis said after the game that Leggett’s error on Arkansas’ first at-bat of the night set the tone for the rest of the game. Lemonis said other decisions in the field also hurt the Bulldogs. 

“We had three errors on the board, and we made three or four other mistakes defensively in the game that we could make better plays on,” Lemonis said. “I don’t understand it. It’s a big crowd in the SEC, but we go other places where there are big crowds in the SEC. They’ve got to come and play better tomorrow.”

Welcome back Rooney

SEC Network analyst Mike Rooney called his first game in Fayetteville in 13 years. 

Rooney, a former assistant coach at Arizona State, was a radio color analyst for the Arizona State radio broadcast when the top-ranked Sun Devils lost a pair of midweek games at Arkansas in 2009.

Short hops

• College Baseball Hall of Fame coach Ron Polk was in the stadium Friday night as the color analyst for the Bulldogs’ radio broadcasts. Polk led Mississippi State to the College World Series 8 times, won a combined 5 SEC championships at Mississippi State and Georgia, and won 1,373 games during his career. Polk was the last Mississippi State coach to win a series in Fayetteville in 2007.

• Arkansas improved to 55-56 against Mississippi State in a series that dates to 1960. At one point in the early 1990s the Bulldogs held an 18-3 advantage in the series. 

• The Bulldogs have lost seven consecutive games in Fayetteville and have not won a game at Baum-Walker Stadium since 2015.

• The announced attendance of 11,548 was based on tickets sold and was the highest for a game so far this year in Fayetteville. With several empty chair-back seats, the actual attendance was much less than the announced figure. 

• Arkansas walked 11 times Friday, tying its season high set against Grambling State on March 16.