FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas’ pitching staff might have suffered another significant injury Wednesday night against Illinois State.
Right-handed reliever Brady Tygart left the game in the ninth inning while shaking his right arm. Tygart was tended to by Arkansas trainer Corey Wood on the field.
Dave Van Horn, the Razorbacks’ 21st-year head coach, said after the game he did not have an update on Tygart’s status.
“I don’t have any idea what’s up,” Van Horn said moments following Arkansas’ 10-9 victory in 11 innings.
Arkansas’ pitching staff is already thin following the loss of junior right-hander Jaxon Wiggins to a season-ending elbow injury during the preseason. Wiggins underwent Tommy John surgery last week.
Wiggins was expected to pitch around 80 innings in a starting role for the Razorbacks this season. Tygart pitched 37 2/3 innings as a freshman reliever last year.
“If Tygart’s out for a while, or who knows what’s up, we’ve got to have some guys step it up,” Van Horn said.
Tygart was off to a great start to his sophomore season. Prior to Wednesday he had allowed 1 run and struck out 8 in 4 2/3 innings.
"He's been really, really good," Van Horn said last week after Tygart earned the win with a two-inning relief appearance against Grambling State. "His (season-opening) outing in Texas was the best I've ever seen him when you just talk about all of his pitches.”
Tygart appeared to pitch through some discomfort just before he was lifted after 1 2/3 innings Wednesday. He allowed a two-run home run in the eighth inning and a solo homer in the ninth, and Illinois State tied the game with an unearned run against him that followed a throwing error by shortstop John Bolton in the ninth.
“Brady, the focus kind of turns to him now,” Arkansas second baseman Peyton Stovall said during a post-game interview on Razorback Sports Network. “Hopefully it’s nothing serious. Everybody is going to be praying for him.”
McLaughlin surgery
Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn said infielder Ben McLaughlin will undergo surgery Thursday to repair a knee injury he suffered last Saturday during a game against Eastern Illinois.
“If it’s minor, it’ll be three weeks,” Van Horn said of the timeline for McLaughlin’s return. “If it’s a little more, it’ll probably be five or six weeks.”
McLaughlin has played in four games this season. He started at first base in the series opener against EIU, and had 2 RBI as a pinch hitter and defensive replacement before getting injured in the second game of the series.
First time?
More than a half-dozen individuals — coaches, sports information directors, reporters and broadcasters — who collectively have been involved in Arkansas baseball for several decades could not recall a time the Razorbacks hit three consecutive home runs prior to Wednesday.
It happened during the seventh inning when Peyton Stovall, Kendall Diggs and Caleb Cali hit back-to-back-to-back homers with one out. Stovall’s homer gave Arkansas a 6-5 lead, and the Razorbacks led 8-5 after Cali’s blast.
There had been previous instances in which Arkansas hit three home runs in four at-bats — most recently in 2021 when Matt Goodheart and Cayden Wallace homered with one out, and Christian Franklin homered with two outs during the first inning of an 8-2 victory at Mississippi State.
Radio trouble
Technical difficulties interrupted the Razorback Sports Network’s broadcast of the game during extra innings.
The broadcast returned to the air before Peyton Stovall’s lead-off double in the 11th inning. Kendall Diggs followed with a game-winning double in the next at-bat.
Former Arkansas baseball play-by-play man Chuck Barrett filled in Wednesday while Phil Elson was at the SEC Women’s Basketball Tournament in Greenville, S.C. Barrett called more than 1,250 games for the Razorbacks between 1992-2014, and was replaced by Elson in 2015.
Wednesday’s game was the second time Barrett has filled in for a game that ended in a walk-off hit. His first game back in the baseball booth ended with a Heston Kjerstad game-winning single against Eastern Illinois on Feb. 17, 2019.
Tough times
Arkansas left-hander Zack Morris’ early-season struggles continued with a 1-inning start that included 2 runs, 4 hits, 1 walk and 1 strikeout. Morris threw 22 of 34 pitches for strikes.
“Morris didn’t get off to a good start, so that was a little hard to swallow,” Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn said. “I wanted to give him the ball, give him the opportunity to get out there and start a game, get it going a little bit, and he got three outs, gave up five hits and it just wasn’t going good. He just couldn’t put people away, made a couple of mistakes with two strikes. Give them credit; they did a good job of getting hits, but we’ve got to get him going.”
Morris has allowed 10 earned runs, 15 hits and 3 walks in 6 1/3 innings this season. He has struggled with efficiency in his three outings since a 3 1/3-inning relief performance against TCU on Feb. 18.
Van Horn said on the team’s radio broadcast before the game that Morris asked coaches if he could start. Morris is a team captain who was one of the Razorbacks’ best relievers last season.
“He’s a tough kid,” Van Horn said. “I know he’s confident, so I haven’t talked to him about how he’s pitching really. Coach (Matt) Hobbs will deal with that side of it. I think he’s going to be fine.”
Pronunciation guide
Arkansas left fielder Jared Wegner said following the game his last name is pronounced like “Wagner.”
“I don’t really ever say anything about it because I hear both all the time, and it makes zero sense why we do pronounce it ‘Wagner,’” Wegner said.
Doubleheader possibility
A poor weather forecast threatens whether Arkansas will be able to play Wright State in a scheduled 3 p.m. game Friday.
According to the National Weather Service there is a 70% chance of precipitation in Fayetteville on Friday with a high of 49 degrees. Winds could gust as high as 45 mph, according to the weather service.
“We know we could end up playing two Saturday, but we’re going to do everything we can to play Friday,” Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn said. “I mean, the issue is that the temperature is going to be in the upper 40s, but the wind looks pretty rough. So we’ll look at that.”
Arkansas is scheduled to play Wright State at 3 p.m. Saturday. The Razorbacks’ basketball team is also scheduled to play on campus that day with a 1 p.m. tipoff against No. 23 Kentucky.
Noteworthy
• Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn tied former Rice national champion coach Wayne Graham for 33rd in the NCAA record book with his 1,173rd career victory. The NCAA recognizes Van Horn’s 29 seasons coaching Division I and his one season at Division II Central Missouri State.
• Illinois State pitching coach R.D. Spiehs was a pitcher for Dave Van Horn at Nebraska from 1999-2001.
• Arkansas left fielder Jared Wegner had 3 RBI to bring his team-high total to 15.
• Illinois State played its fourth of seven consecutive games in the state of Arkansas. The Redbirds won two of three games at Arkansas State last weekend and are scheduled to play a three-game series at Central Arkansas beginning Friday.