Noland’s start Friday as much about his improvement as anything

There were some eyebrows raised Wednesday afternoon when the news broke that freshman Connor Noland would be starting the NCAA Regional opener Friday.

It all starts on the hill. ?

Connor Noland gets the ball in game one followed by Isaiah Campbell in game two. #OmaHogsSZN pic.twitter.com/DajLVrzDKZ

— Arkansas Baseball (@RazorbackBSB) May 29, 2019

Dave Van Horn usually starts his ace, which would be Isaiah Campbell in this case.

Instead, he’s going with Noland against noted powerhouse Central Connecticut State. Some have taken that to mean Van Horn feels he didn’t need to start Campbell in this one and can save him for the second day of the tournament.

Kole Ramage can be excused for getting his hopes up. He seemed to be the beneficiary during a stretch where Noland would go 4.2 innings in a game, then Ramage would come in and pick up a win.

By the time Noland finally got his first win on April 16 against Arkansas-Pine Bluff when he worked just two innings and got the win, thanks in large part to a five-run start in the first inning by the offense.

He joked after the game to the scorer he didn’t want that to be his first win and was told it was pity win. It was done in a lighthearted manner.

The reality is, though, Noland has gotten better through the season. His ERA of 3.71 is second best on the team behind Campbell. More importantly, he’s given up less than a hit per inning pitched over the course of the year.

Then there’s Van Horn, who is at the stage of the season where he makes more good decisions than bad ones. Don’t take that as a negative. Every coach has a few along the way he wouldn’t do again with 20-20 hindsight.

Either way it goes Friday, Van Horn will have Campbell on Friday. The odds are it will be to put the Razorbacks in a position where they only have to win one game over possibly two days to advance to a Super Regional.

Van Horn is breaking a trend where he’s started his ace on the opening day of the regional the last few years.

Based on the track record, following Van Horn’s hunches usually works out pretty good.