Fayetteville Regional: Pitching Breakdown

Arkansas

ArkansasRazorbacks.com

Team ERA: 3.53 (1st in Regional, 29th in NCAA)

Team WHIP: 1.26 (2nd in Regional, 24th in NCAA)

Team K/9: 9.4 (1st in Regional, 23rd in NCAA)

Rotation

Blaine Knight (Confirmed Friday) - 10-0, 2.78 ERA, .234 avg

Isaiah Campbell - 4-6, 4.01 ERA, .259 avg

Kacey Murphy - 7-4, 3.15 ERA, .234 avg

Potential 4th Starter: Kole Ramage - 1-1, 3.56 ERA, .256 avg

Bullpen

Matt Cronin - 11 saves, 2.97 ERA, .132 avg

Jake Reindl - 5 saves, 2.66 ERA, .238 avg

Barrett Loseke - 2-2, 3.35 ERA, .204 avg

Breakdown

The Hogs are the only team without their conference’s pitcher of the year, but certainly are the deepest staff. Big Game Blaine will start the opener, so we’ll likely see pitchers go in the order of the usual weekend rotation rather than what we saw at the SEC Tournament. Murphy on Saturday and Campbell on Sunday since he had a quality outing against LSU in Hoover. Should Arkansas need a 4th starter, Kole Ramage has gotten a couple of starts lately and could get the call. Arkansas’ starters haven’t gone as deep as the others in this regional, meaning multi inning outings from Cronin and Reindl will be needed, but they are comfortable in that role.

Southern Miss

SouthernMiss.com

Team ERA: 3.55 (2nd in Regional, 31st in NCAA)

Team WHIP: 1.23 (1st in Regional, 17th in NCAA)

Team K/9: 8.5 (4th in Regional, 80th in NCAA)

Rotation

Nick Sandlin (Likely Friday) - 9-0, 1.13 ERA, .154 avg, C-USA Pitcher of the Year

Stevie Powers - 5-1, 3.28 ERA, .275 avg

Walker Powell - 7-2, 3.55 ERA, .280 avg

Potential 4th Starter: Mason Strickland - 2-1, 2.60 ERA, .235 avg

Bullpen

Cody Carroll - 16 apps, 2.23 ERA, .177 avg

JC Keys - 20 apps, 5.93 ERA, .234 avg

Keller Bradford - 22 apps, 3.64 ERA, .261 avg

Breakdown

Nick Sandlin made the move from the bullpen to the ace role and has been outstanding for the Golden Eagles this year. He’s got the best ERA in the country, could join Knight in the 10-0 club with a win, and was easily the C-USA pitcher of the year. He’s No. 164 on MLB.com’s top 200 draft prospects. (Knight is No. 48 and Campbell is No. 109) He doesn’t overpower you but can mix five pitches and different arm angles, making sitting on any pitch very difficult. Golden Eagles coach Scott Berry told media he’s likely going with Sandlin against Dallas Baptist so the Hogs likely won’t face him should they play each other. Powers and and Powell are good starters as well, but Southern Miss needs them to go deep in games as their bullpen isn’t the best. Southern Miss did well in the C-USA Tournament because all of them went at least seven innings in their starts. They’ll need the same again.

Dallas Baptist

DBUPatriots.com

Team ERA: 4.38 (4th in Regional, 107th in NCAA)

Team WHIP: 1.39 (4th in Regional, 82nd in NCAA)

Team K/9: 9.2 (2nd in Regional, 34th in NCAA)

Rotation

Trevor Conn - 8-1, 2.92 ERA, .246 avg, Missouri Valley Pitcher of the Year

MD Johnson - 8-2, 4.84 ERA, .260 avg

Luke Eldred - 6-3, 3.08 ERA, .228 avg

Potential 4th Starter: Kody Funderburk - 1-2, 6.80 ERA, .283 avg

Bullpen

MacGregor Hines - 6 saves, 4.05 ERA, .242 avg

Jarod Bayless - 4 saves, 2.36 ERA, .205 avg

Kragen Kechely - 7-1, 3.99 ERA, .225 avg

Breakdown

Another conference pitcher of the year, ho hum. There’s no word on a starter for DBU, but Conn is almost certainly going against Sandlin. The concern though is that he hasn’t had the best starts recently. His last four outings he hasn’t gotten past five innings and has an ERA of 6.88 in those outings. Despite the poor pitching numbers (relative to this regional) DBU will stay in games with their excellent hitting, so they’re just looking for their staff to keep them in games. But if they need to dig deep into their bullpen this weekend, things could get shaky.

Oral Roberts

ORUAthletics.com

Team ERA: 3.88 (3rd in Regional, 63rd in NCAA)

Team WHIP: 1.30 (3rd in Regional, 44th in NCAA)

Team K/9: 8.8 (3rd in Regional, 50th in NCAA)

Rotation

Miguel Ausua - 8-1, 3.27 ERA, 6.75 K/9, Summit League Pitcher of the Year

Justin McGregor - 6-1, 2.36 ERA, 8.49 K/9

Josh McMinn - 6-5, 3.84 ERA, 7.92 K/9

Potential 4th Starter: Taylor Varnell - 3-4, 4.81 ERA, 9.47 K/9

Bullpen

Kyler Stout - 14 saves, 2.13 ERA, 14.92 K/9

Colton Larkins - 3-1, 3.78 ERA, 9.45 K/9

Brady Womacks - 3-1, 1.97 ERA, 11.25 K/9

Breakdown

Miguel Ausua is ORU’s ace and conventional wisdom would say he gets the call against Knight, but ORU’s game notes list Justin McGregor as the projected starter. It still very well could be Ausua so there’s something to keep an eye on. Arkansas actually faced Ausua in last year’s regional opener. He had a solid 6 ¹⁄₃ innings giving up two runs and striking out six. You can see ORU’s numbers this year are really good in the national rankings, but are just a tick behind Arkansas and Southern Miss. They’ve got a few good bullpen arms to send out there and definitely won’t be overmatched.