FAYETTEVILLE — The first five-game week of the season is upon No. 6 Arkansas, starting tonight at 6 against UNLV, and Razorbacks coach Dave Van Horn understands his team's arms will be tested.
“We’re going to have to have some guys step it up this week,” Van Horn said of Arkansas' pitching after Sunday’s 15-6 win over Louisiana Tech completed a weekend sweep for their eighth consecutive win.
The Razorbacks (13-2) and Rebels (5-8) will also play at 3 p.m. Wednesday.
Injuries to weekend starter Jaxon Wiggins and key bullpen arms Brady Tygart and Koty Frank have the Hogs re-evaluating bullpen roles and factoring more freshmen into the pitching mix.
“We’re going to take one game at a time, obviously, but we’re not going to throw guys that we’re going to need maybe a couple of times on the weekend,” Van Horn said. “If we do, it might be for a hitter or an inning.”
UNLV, the reigning Mountain West Conference champion, did not play last weekend after busing 6.5 hours to Cal Poly and watching it rain heavily on Thursday and Friday.
“The outfield was under water,” UNLV Coach Stan Stolte said. “We just bused back. It was dry in Vegas so we got to practice Saturday and Sunday.”
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The Hustlin’ Rebels, as the UNLV baseball team is called, flew into Fayetteville on Monday.
“I just told the team, ‘You’re going to play a team that’s talented and they can score. And now they’ve got their whole pitching staff available,’” Van Horn said. “So I think they may be in league play this weekend. But if they don’t start their 1, 2 and 3 [pitchers] at us, those guys will have mid-week bullpens if you know what I’m saying.”
Stolte said weekend starters righty Noah Beal (0-2, 10.50) and lefty Josh Sharman (2-1, 7.20) might get limited work.
“Very little, because we’ve got a big conference series this weekend,” Stolte said. “If they get an inning of work, that would be … I mean our weekend guys are obviously three of our better guys, but they’re not a whole lot different from our Tuesday-Wednesday guys.”
Freshman lefty Parker Coil (0-0, 6.75 ERA) will start for the Razorbacks against senior right-hander Joey Acosta (1-0, 5.87)
Acosta started a 9-8 home win over San Diego State on March 5 to salvage game 3 of the Rebels’ opening MWC series. UNLV lost a pair of games at Oklahoma by scores of 11-6 and 8-7 in the middle of last week.
The Rebels are playing the Sooners and the Razorbacks, two of the final four teams at the last College World Series, in back-to-back weeks.
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“I really challenged them with a tough schedule,” Stolte said. “We’ve played OK, but we haven’t responded as well as I would have liked. We haven’t won some of the tough games that we need to win.
“We know obviously Arkansas is probably going to be the best team we play. It’ll be a good opportunity for us to play one of the top teams in the country and see where we’re at.”
Van Horn said he plans to rest a starter or two during the two-game set.
“I’m planning on mixing up our lineup a little bit the next few days and getting some guys in there and we’re going to try to win some games,” he said.
Arkansas left fielder Jared Wegner (.400, 7 HR, 26 RBI) will carry an eight-game hitting streak in the series. Right fielder Jace Bohrofen (.447, 5, 15) is 12 for 21 (.571) with four home runs during a six-game hitting streak.
Tavian Josenberger (.350, 2, 10), Peyton Stovall (.345, 3, 15), Brady Slavens (.317, 1, 13) and Kendall Diggs (.295, 6, 17) have also been productive, and John Bolton (.261) has reached base in six consecutive games.
UNLV catcher Jacob Sharp (.419, 3, 11) is tied for the team lead with Paul Myro (.250, 3 16) with three home runs. Alex Pimentel (.356, 15 RBI), Santino Panaro (.341, 1, 7), Austin Kryszczuk (.341, 2, 16) and Rylan Charles (.279, 1, 13) have been the top run producers for the Rebels.
“We have some pretty offensive guys that returned,” Stolte said. “Our conference is a very offensive conference. We play places where it’s easy to put up good stats. But that is our strength, hitting.”