Hog Calls

UA piecing together pitching puzzle

Trevor Stephan, Arkansas right hand pitcher, warms up with a football Tuesday, May 23, 2017, during practice at Jerry D. Young Memorial Field on the campus of UAB in Birmingham, Ala.
Trevor Stephan, Arkansas right hand pitcher, warms up with a football Tuesday, May 23, 2017, during practice at Jerry D. Young Memorial Field on the campus of UAB in Birmingham, Ala.

FAYETTEVILLE -- If it was a four-team NCAA regional baseball tournament with three obviously formidable opponents, Arkansas Razorbacks Coach Dave Van Horn never would risk saving one of his two best starting pitchers until Game 3 of a double-elimination tournament.

But the SEC Tournament isn't Part 1 of the two-piece puzzle to be among the Elite Eight playing for the national championship at the College World Series in Omaha, Neb. So though this remaining SEC Tournament field will be as tough as any the NCAA assembles among next week's 16 four-team regionals, Van Horn gambled on saving Blaine Knight eventually for the Razorbacks' third tournament game, whenever that may be, thanks to this week's weather in central Alabama..

It's a game that wouldn't materialize if Arkansas loses its opening game Thursday in Hoover, Ala., against the winner of this morning's play-in game between Mississippi State and Georgia, and then loses a loser's bracket game.

That's a chance Van Horn said he must take, following ace right-hander Trevor Stephan (5-3, 3.24 earned-run average, 103 strikeouts, 15 walks, 77 2/3 innings) Thursday with an up-in-the-air game plan for the next game, possibly starting senior right-hander Dominic Taccolini, perhaps even closer Jake Reindl or to piece-meal it, Van Horn said, with four or five pitching, whether in the winner's or loser's bracket.

Stephan and Knight (7-4, 3.23 ERA, 79 strikeouts, 16 walks, 78 innings) have provided a 1-2 pitching punch without a reliable third starter. So normally, in either order, Stephan and Knight or Knight and Stephan, start Games 1 and 2 of a three-game SEC series.

However, forearm soreness pushed Knight back to Saturday's Game 3, concluding the Razorbacks' regular SEC season at Texas A&M.

Knight allowed no runs and three hits in six complete innings of an eventual 8-0 victory that freshman Kevin Kopps finished. But while Knight's forearm appears healthy, his rest schedule isn't suited for an early start in Hoover, Van Horn said Tuesday.

While regionals take precedence and Van Horn says his Hogs (39-15 and ranked 13th nationally) have locked hosting a regional at Baum Stadium regardless how they fare in Hoover, the SEC Tournament still bears importance for Arkansas, which has never won the tournament.

Enough importance that Van Horn doesn't rule out pitching Stephan again in some fashion if the Razorbacks survive to play Sunday's championship game.

"I guess it would just have to be in the right situation," Van Horn said Tuesday. "If we were still in it Sunday, he might be able to go an inning or two, but it would be something we would just have to look at down the road. It just depends on how tomorrow goes."

Sports on 05/24/2017

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