COMMENTARY: Nervous Bolsinger calms down, pitches Hogs to win

Arkansas starting pitcher Mike Bolsinger delivers the first pitch of the season against Ball State on Friday at Baum Stadium in Fayetteville.
Arkansas starting pitcher Mike Bolsinger delivers the first pitch of the season against Ball State on Friday at Baum Stadium in Fayetteville.

— Nothing compared to what Mike Bolsinger was feeling in the hours leading up to opening day against Ball State.

He was nervous, jittery and even paced in the dugout in anticipation of his new role as a starter on the mound for Arkansas.

But his nerves didn’t show on the mound in the Razorbacks’ 10-2 victory Friday afternoon, which marked the start of the Razorbacks’ quest for a second straight College World Series appearance. He struck out six batters in five innings, and allowed one run on four hits while on a short leash.

It wasn’t too surprising for Bolsinger, who had 30 appearances out of the bullpen last season and just one start. After all, he saved Arkansas several times in his career, including five innings of relief after three long rain delays in a 7-2 victory against Florida State in the Super Regional last season.

But was Bolsinger, a senior, really that nervous heading into the game?

Apparently, he was nervous beyond anything he experienced during Arkansas’ run last year.

The senior admitted he was more anxious Friday than he was heading to the College World Series last June, when he pitched in three of the Razorbacks’ four games in Omaha, Neb.

“I was just pacing back and forth in the dugout. I remember calling my mom up before the game,” said Bolsinger, who threw 68 pitches Friday.

“I don't want to mess this one up,” he told his mother, Mary.

Then he struck out three-hole hitter Kolbrin Vitek on a 1-2 count in the first inning. Simply put, he soon calmed down.

“It's hard to say that I can't believe I was more nervous than I was in Omaha, but I really was,” Bolsinger said. “... Maybe it's a little bit of pressure put on you but I liked it. I want to do this and it's finally here.”

It helped having Arkansas’ aggressive base runners taking advantage early against a Ball State team, and pitching staff, that looked shocked to be out in the open air after practicing much of the last few weeks inside due to cold weather.

The Hogs scored three runs on no hits in the bottom of the first, and the Cardinals never recovered. Four pitchers, three hit batsmen and 13 hits later, Ball State wasn’t left with much of anything.

Meanwhile, Arkansas did a little bit of everything. There was power, small ball and, as the Razorbacks showed in the first inning, some aggressive plays.

Then Andy Wilkins showed us why he’s one of the best big hitters in the SEC, jacking a shot over left field in the eighth inning.

It was the perfect cap to Arkansas’ night, which had a little bit of everything. Eight players had RBIs, and four players came up with multiple hits. Jarrod McKinney started of well in the lead-off spot, going 2-for-3 at the plate with a double, RBI and two runs.

“People have been getting on me, saying where's all your speed guys,” Van Horn said. “We've got good hitters that are big in the middle, but we've got runners at the top and we've got runners at the bottom. ... We worked extremely hard on our bunting, hitting and running. We're not going to just sit there and try to hit the ball out of the park.”

Especially with the south spring wind blowing into Baum Stadium much of the season, just as it was Friday night. Win or not, it wouldn’t have mattered on Wilkins’ monster shot.

“He’s been swinging it real well in batting practice,” Van Horn said. “As have a few guys but, again, you have to be able to take it to the game and he’s done a great job of that.”

Anxiousness and even some nervousness switched to some tamed excitement with Wilkins’ home run.

“There was a little bit of anxiety, but overall I think everybody was pretty calm and to get that win was definitely a great feeling,” Wilkins said.

Defense showed up as well, and second baseman Bo Bigham had one of the better plays with a diving grab to his left. But the Texarkana native couldn’t finish the play, hurting his left shoulder on the collision with the ground.

The shoulder was “definitely out of place,” Van Horn said, and the sophomore was undergoing X-rays after the game. Not much else was known, but Van Horn believed the left shoulder injury was the same shoulder he had problems with as a senior in high school.

Arkansas will send sophomore Geoffrey Davenport to the mound for his first career start Saturday. The lefty threw just three innings combined last season, with his longest outing lasting 1 2/3 innings against California.

First pitch is scheduled for 1:05 p.m.

Brandon Marcello is the online sports editor for Northwest Arkansas Newspapers and the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. He also runs The Slophouse, a blog covering the Razorbacks on WholeHogSports.com.

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