Expectations high for Hogs on diamond

FAYETTEVILLE — An overnight dusting of snow prevented the No. 5 Arkansas Razorbacks from starting spring baseball practice as scheduled on Friday.

But the loaded University of Arkansas club, aiming for its third consecutive trip to the College World Series under 18th-year coach Dave Van Horn, will get heated up quickly prior to the Feb. 14 season opener against Eastern Illinois.

Arkansas is scheduled to practice for 13 consecutive days starting today, and it’s not like Van Horn and assistant coaches Nate Thompson and Matt Hobbs have a ton of question marks.

Sophomores Connor Noland and Patrick Wicklander project as weekend starters to lead the pitching staff. The bullpen is crammed with veterans and a dash of young arms.

The batting order is headlined by preseason All-Americans Heston Kjerstad and Casey Martin, standout catcher Casey Opitz and returning starters Christian Franklin, Matt Goodheart and Jacob Nesbit.

Senior transfer Cole Austin and mid-term enrollee Robert Moore, likely starters at first base and second base, represent the injection of new talent onto a club that finished 46-20, tied for the SEC West title at 20-10 and beat Ole Miss in an NCAA Super Regional to qualify for the CWS for the sixth time under Van Horn.

Arkansas looks to be deeper on the mound, in the field and in the batter’s box than possibly at any point.

“It’s the best,” Van Horn said in his pre-season media session on Friday. “That’s what you want. You want competition amongst teammates. You want them to like each other, get along, care about each other … but it’s all about that inter-team competition to get on the field. That keeps them working hard every day. It keeps them sharp.”

Van Horn said a top priority for the start of spring will be sorting out the pitching staff behind the right-hander Noland (3-5, 4.02 ERA) and the lefty Wicklander (6-2, 4.32) and locating a closer to replace ace Matt Cronin (1-0, 1.86, 12 saves).

“The pitchers know right now we’ve got two guys who are going to get the ball first and that third spot is wide open,” Van Horn said. “We have got to figure out how to handle that bullpen and how we want to finish games because you know a lot of games are won in the eighth and ninth and we don’t want to let them slip away.”

Competition for the third weekend starting assignment and the mid-week starter roles should be hot. The group of contenders includes veteran right-handers like Kevin Kopps (6-3, 3.89), Kole Ramage (7-1, 5.25) and Caleb Bolden, who is coming off Tommy John surgery after posting a 4.40 ERA in 10 appearances, including four starts, as a freshman in 2018, as well as sophomore lefty Caden Monke and heralded freshman right-hander Blake Adams from Springdale.

Van Horn said 6-4 junior Zebulon Vermillion (1-3, 2.64) wants more innings this season, but he could be in the mix for a shot at closer as he recovers from a slight hamstring issue to open the year.

The closing duties could be won by a number of players, including fireballing sophomores Jacob Burton (0-0, 4.82) and Elijah Trest (1-1, 7.58), freshman Peyton Pallette and the veterans who don’t make the starting rotation.

“We do feel like we have some good arms and some options, but it’s just going to take some time,” Van Horn said.

Burton and Trest must master secondary pitches, Van Horn said, to keep SEC hitters honest and off their fastballs.

“So we’re going to run some good arms out there at some people and see who can handle it,” he added.

Martin and Kjerstad were ace freshmen on the Razorback squad that came within one out of winning the 2018 College World Series. Now they’re both entering a junior season that is likely to spin them toward their first professional contract.

“We talk to them about it all the time as a team … the stress of the junior year,” Van Horn said. “This is the year they’ve been working for to try to make a little more money or have a chance to get drafted or drafted high. And then the people are talking about you and picking you preseason this or that. It’s just human nature to be a little uptight.

“Really what I tell them is you just treat this semester of your junior year like any other. You get up every day and do the same thing. Get up and go to class. Don’t miss class. Just stay on routine and it’ll all work out.”

Martin will be playing shortstop for a second consecutive year, hoping to reduce his SEC-high 23 errors while increasing his offensive numbers (.286, 15 HR, 57 RBI). Kjerstad (.327, 17, 51) is taking practice at first base, but is likely to be back in right field.

The projected starting infield, from third to first, is the sophomore Nesbit (.255, 3, 42), Martin, Moore and Austin. Goodheart (.345, 5, 47) is still recovering from shoulder surgery and is the likely designated hitter.

In the outfield, Kjerstad is likely to be joined by the sophomore Franklin (.274, 6, 34). Opitz (.243, 3, 33) is expected to deliver more punch after adding weight and strength in the offseason.

Van Horn said the coaches who selected Arkansas No. 5 for the preseason USA Today Coaches poll probably saw the Razorbacks return pitchers like Noland and Wicklander and top-rated hitters like Kjerstad and Martin.

“Take that into consideration and the fact that we have some starters back and we have an outstanding catcher and a couple of preseason All-American players and we’ve filled in pretty good with a couple of others and you know it adds up to be very competitive,” he said.

“Are we the fifth-best team in the country starting out? Who’s to say? And I guess it really doesn’t matter.

“Like I tell the players all the time, it’s fun being recognized, but really bottom line, it just makes teams play a little bit harder against you, and you’ve got to show up every day and play well or you’ll get beat.”

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