Connor Noland didn’t exactly get off to a blazing start in his first SEC game Saturday against Missouri, but he came within one out of his first league win mainly because he avoided faceplanting in the first inning.
Noland walked the first batter, then had the bases full before he could get anybody out, which is when pitching coach Matt Hobbs came strolling out to have a conversation.
“That was to settle (Noland) down,” Dave Van Horn said later.
Hobbs wasn’t delivering a chewing-out. With a full-blown conference going on with all the infield in attendance, Van Horn had sent Hobbs out because he figure out Noland started the game a little too fired-up.
“There was no motivation in that talk,” Van Horn said. “There was just trying to get some things straightened out mechanically because he had good stuff.
“He came out and he’s a strike thrower and he can’t get the ball down. Maybe a little too amped up, opening up that front side and kind of running away from the ball a little bit.”
Noland settled down. Friday starter Isaiah Campbell was the first player to greet him every time he came off the field and was talking to him several times in the dugout between innings.
Considering that Campbell faced that situation several times last year as the second-day starter following a Blaine Knight win on Friday, Noland knows enough to pay attention.
He sat down the Tigers for the next 3-2/3 innings before getting pulled with a runner on base.
“I was just trying to make it as far into the game as I could,” Noland said. “I’m not too concerned about the wins and losses column. We’ll let Kole handle that.”
That last part was about Kole Ramage coming in pitching three innings to get the win. Everybody had a good laugh about that.
Ramage got three innings, which allowed closer Matt Cronin to come in and do his thing.
“Whenever that guy comes in, you’re pretty confident in him throwing strikes and coming after people,” Noland said. “So, when you guy in there with any run-lead, putting Cronin out there you’re pretty comfortable he’s going to do the job.”
Van Horn said he may even have Cronin again Sunday, if necessary.
“We’ll see,” he said.
All if it would be a completely different story, though, if Noland hadn’t been able to get out of that first inning Saturday. With Missouri starter TJ Sikkema starting and going the entire way, Van Horn knew later how big it was.
“It would have been bad for us to burn up a bunch of our bullpen guys when we’re trying to catch a guy like (TJ) Sikkema,” Van Horn said. “For Connor to give us an opportunity to get into the game a little bit, and then for us to get the lead and to win it, ended up being huge for us.”
The importance of locking down the series win Saturday is why Van Horn got Noland out of the game when he did.
“You don’t want to leave him in too long,” Van Horn said. “We had such a fresh bullpen and the games are so important that I think Connor would tell you he gets it.”
It sets up the all-important Sunday game, which may be the biggest game in any series because you win a series, sweep a series or avoid a sweep.
At the end of the year that ends up being huge.
Now the Hogs will face Missouri on Sunday with a really fresh group of pitchers against Missouri’s bullpen.
And you can bet we’ll see a lot of both.
Notes:
• Saturday’s game was 2:39, which is the second straight game that moved along rapidly. Friday’s game was 2:37.
• Attendance at the game, which featured maybe the best weather of the season, was 9,521, which was probably low. There were several fans before the game that had their tickets not scan, due to the machine. It looked like there were more than that.
