Hogs' Connor Noland 'Deserved' Chance to Start Opening Day
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Arkansas senior Connor Noland is finally been able to stay healthy.
It really wasn't a surprise when Dave Van Horn officially named him the opening-day starter against Illinois State on Friday afternoon at 3 p.m.
"He definitely deserved to start this weekend," Van Horn said.
Since fall practice, though, that was pretty much what close watchers suspected. A pretty good one-two punch of Peyton Pallette and Noland was something fans were looking forward to seeing.
Andy Hodges / allHOGS Images
Andy Hodges / allHOGS Images
Andy Hodges / allHOGS Images
Andy Hodges / allHOGS Images
That ended when Pallette had to undergo season-ending surgery.
Freshman left-hander Hagen Smith is set to start Saturday and sophomore right-hander Jaxon Wiggins on Sunday.
The decision on the pitching rotation has been one of the biggest questions headed into a season where the Hogs are ranked at the top of the national preseason lists.
“The first two were easy,” Van Horn said about the decision. “Then the third one with Wiggins and maybe a couple of others, you could probably go either way, but Jaxon’s got some experience.”
Noland was never really healthy in 2021 after being a Friday starter in 2020 before the pandemic shut down everything. He had a 6.91 ERA in 14 1/3 innings across nine appearances.
“Obviously, the experience that Connor has, he’s seen a lot,” Van Horn said. “He’s seen some good days and some rough days. He’s weathered the storms. He’s gotten himself in great shape and obviously I felt like he should go Game 1."
After the three set to start the opening series, redshirt sophomore Mark Adamiak was battling Wiggins for the third spot before taking a Peyton Stovall line drive off the shin just two pitches into last Saturday’s scrimmage.
"He’s gotten a lot better," Van Horn said. "He just needs a little more experience. He went out and pitched in the Cape Cod League. I think he gained experience there and he gained a lot of confidence. He’s just continued to get better."
As for Illinois State, they have played the Hogs before and have had some success. It might not be a cakewalk.
"There's a reason they scheduled this because they think they have some pitchers that can give us all we can handle," Van Horn said. "It's going to be a really good series and we're going to have to fight."
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