FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas pitcher Connor Noland is one of 45 players on the midseason watch list for the Golden Spikes Award, which is presented by USA Baseball to the nation's best amateur player.
The fourth-year right hander from Greenwood is 4-1 with a 3.05 ERA in 41 1/3 innings this season for the second-ranked Razorbacks. Noland has recorded 53 strikeouts and walked 9, and hitters are batting .245 against him.
Noland is one of 12 players from the SEC on the midseason watch list, and the first Arkansas player to be included since pitcher Isaiah Campbell in 2019. Arkansas pitcher Kevin Kopps won the award last season when he was the sport’s most dominant pitcher over the second half of the season, but he was not included on either the preseason or midseason watch lists.
Noland was not on the Golden Spikes preseason watch list this year, which included Arkansas infielders Robert Moore and Cayden Wallace. But he has increased his visibility with a couple of long outings in SEC play, including a seven-inning start against Mississippi State last Friday when he allowed 1 run and 4 hits, and struck out 6 without allowing a walk.
“He’s giving us five, six, seven innings every weekend, it seems like,” Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn said Monday. “He keeps us from burning our bullpen up. He’s just been outstanding.
“The way he pitched Friday was about as good as we’ve ever seen him.”
Noland threw 104 pitches against Mississippi State. He had never hit the 100-pitch mark prior to SEC play this season, but has thrown at least that many pitches in all three conference starts.
“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.”
Noland is expected to go head-to-head against another Golden Spikes watch list pitcher Thursday when the Razorbacks play at No. 22 Florida. Left hander Hunter Barco is the Gators’ top pitcher with a 5-1 record and 1.87 ERA in 43 1/3 innings. Van Horn called Barco the No. 1 pitcher in the league.
“We’re going to really have to fight him to beat him,” Van Horn said.
Other SEC pitchers on the watch list are Drew Beam, Chase Burns and Chase Dollander of Tennessee, Jonathan Cannon of Georgia and Chris McElvain of Vanderbilt.
SEC position players on the watch list are Dylan Crews and Jacob Berry of LSU, Dominic Keegan and Enrique Bradfield of Vanderbilt, and Sonny DiChiara of Auburn.
2022 Golden Spikes Award Midseason Watch List
LHP Hunter Barco, Florida
RHP Drew Beam, Tennessee
INF Jacob Berry, LSU
LHP John Michael Bertrand, Notre Dame
OF Enrique Bradfield, Vanderbilt
RHP Jake Brooks, UCLA
RHP Chase Burns, Tennessee
RHP Justin Campbell, Oklahoma State
RHP Jonathan Cannon, Georgia
OF Carlos Contreras, Sam Houston State
OF Dylan Crews, LSU
OF Chase DeLauter, James Madison
RHP Nolan DeVos, Davidson
INF Sonny DiChiara, Auburn
RHP Chase Dollander, Tennessee
INF Jake Gelof, Virginia
OF Elijah Green, IMG Academy (Fla.)
LHP Pete Hansen, Texas
RHP Thomas Harrington, Campbell
LHP Cooper Hjerpe, Oregon State
RHP Gabriel Hughes, Gonzaga
OF Jack Hurley, Virginia Tech
INF Termarr Johnson, Mays (Ga.) High School
OF Druw Jones, Wesleyan (Ga.) High School
INF Jace Jung, Texas Tech
UTL Dominic Keegan, Vanderbilt
INF Christian Knapczyk, Louisville
SS Brooks Lee, Cal Poly
RHP Dylan Lesko, Buford (Ga.) High School
RHP Karson Ligon, Miami
RHP Chris McElvain, Vanderbilt
C Haydn McGeary, Colorado Mesa
INF Ivan Melendez, Texas
OF/INF Jacob Melton, Oregon State
LHP Parker Messick, Florida State
C/INF Ben Metzinger, Louisville
RHP Connor Noland, Arkansas
C Kevin Parada, Georgia Tech
LHP Nate Savino, Virginia
INF/OF Nolan Schanuel, Florida Atlantic
INF Jordan Sprinkle, UC Santa Barbara
INF Murphy Stehly, Texas
C Daniel Susac, Arizona
RHP Drew Thorpe, Cal Poly
INF Jacob Wilson, Grand Canyon