FAYETTEVILLE — University of Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn touted his team’s hitting and outfield depth and hinted fourth-year senior Connor Noland was on track to start the Razorbacks’ Feb. 18 season opener on Monday.
Speaking on a video conference with members of the Swatter’s Club, Van Horn said Noland is feeling healthy, has improved his diet and is ready to unleash at least a four-pitch repertoire on hitters this season.
“Can he be an ace? Sure,” Van Horn said. “He’s got four pitches … and he might have five. I won’t tell you all his secrets.”
Noland was the Razorbacks’ No. 1 starter in 2020 before the season was wiped out prior to conference play due to the coronavirus.
“He’s got stamina. We’re building him up. You’ll probably see him Day 1 against Illinois State.”
Noland threw an impressive two innings during a Jan. 30 intrasquad game, striking out five of the team’s top hitters among his six outs.
Van Horn said the Razorbacks have at least six legitimate outfielders and enough versatility on the infield and at catcher to test different lineups while still trying to win every game.
“We have a good idea who’s going to start and play in the field,” he said. “Really, we could start 12 guys. There’s three that won’t start right now that I feel like could, and they will off and on.
“That’s a good problem to have. I want the guys to make it hard for me to not write their name in the lineup. We’ll mix it up a little bit.”
Arkansas opens the season on Feb. 18 against Illinois State, a team that has given the Razorbacks trouble in recent seasons, such as dealing them an 8-7 loss on March 3, 2020, the week before the covid-19 pandemic shut down the season.
The Razorbacks are coming off a 50-13 season in which they won series on 16 consecutive weekends, won the SEC title outright and captured their first SEC Tournament title before falling in a three-game set to North Carolina State in the NCAA Fayetteville Super Regional.
The snowstorm that hit Northwest Arkansas in the middle of last week and left remnants into Monday, could prevent the Razorbacks from getting back outside until Wednesday or Thursday.
Van Horn told host Brett Dolan that crews were working on breaking up the remaining snow and ice that had accumulated mostly in the right-field corner at Baum-Walker Stadium.
However, the team still got in solid work inside the Fowler Center during the snow days, even with the added duty of helping pull a teammate’s truck out of a ditch after it slid off the road. Van Horn called that an exercise in team building.
“We had an opportunity to practice inside for three days in a row, and we ran it like a game so we could keep our pitchers on track,” Van Horn said. “We’re trying to go with our starters — at least projected starters for the opening weekend — to stay right where they need to be in number of pitches, and building those pitch counts up and getting their arms ready.
““It was a good weekend, believe it or not. The guys did a great job of getting here the first couple of days, because it was a little tough.”
After a high temperature around 48 degrees on Monday, today’s high is projected to reach 60, with similar weather forecast for the rest of the week.
Van Horn said it might take a miracle to practice at Baum-Walker on Wednesday, before adding, “I’m going to say Thursday maybe, Friday for sure.”
With the season-ending injury to projected Friday starter Peyton Pallette, Noland leads a list of about a half-dozen pitchers who could be in line for weekend starting assignments. Last year, Arkansas eventually settled into a weekend rotation of Patrick Wicklander, Pallette and Lael Lockhart, though others like Caleb Bolden, Zebulon Vermillion and Jaxon Wiggins got weekend starter opportunities.
Now, Noland, Wiggins and Vermillion will be in the mix along with freshman lefty Hagen Smith, veteran Kole Ramage and others.
“Connor’s been really good,” Van Horn said. “Day 1 in the fall, you could tell he was different. Connor didn’t play summer ball. He stayed here and got himself in probably the best shape of his life, changed his diet. That’s huge.
“His arm seems to be great. Last year he was hurt, tried to come back, tried to pitch when he didn’t have his best stuff. We appreciated it but that wasn’t the best version of Connor Noland. We’re seeing it now. We’re excited about what you’re going to see.”