BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Arkansas Razorbacks baseball Coach Dave Van Horn said right-hander Trevor Stephan will start Thursday's SEC Tournament opener for the Razorbacks.
Showers at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium on Tuesday evening played havoc with the tournament schedule, pushing the Razorbacks' opener -- originally scheduled for tonight -- against the winner of the game between Mississippi State and Georgia to Thursday at 9:30 a.m. Mississippi State and Georgia, first slated to play in Tuesday night's final game, are now scheduled to play today at 9:30 a.m.
Stephan (5-3, 3.24 ERA) is coming off once of his best outings of the season, a no-decision at Texas A&M last Thursday in which he threw 106 pitches over 7 2/3 innings, allowing 5 hits and 3 earned runs and striking out 10.
"Five day's rest, that's fine," Van Horn said Tuesday, prior to the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville's workout at Alabama-Birmingham's baseball practice facility. "He's a big, strong kid, threw [106] pitches the other night and really wasn't in much trouble.
"It wasn't stressful. He didn't have a 30-pitch inning. I'm not saying it was easy, but it was easier than it's been. He's ready to go, so he'll start tomorrow."
In his past four starts, Stephan has pitched 27 2/3 innings and allowed 19 hits and 9 earned runs, with 36 strikeouts and 4 walks.
"As the season's gone on, I felt like my outings have gotten stronger," Stephan said. "I feel good, ready to go."
Stephan has started the series opener the past two weekends, since his seven-inning, one-hit 2-0 victory at Tennessee on May 6.
"You always want to get out there, get the first win, set the tone for the series," Stephan said. "It's been nice to be able to do that the last few weekends."
Van Horn said Stephan would be on a pitch count tonight that would likely be less than 100 pitches, and that it would definitely be Stephan's final start before NCAA regional play.
"I've been asked a couple of times, 'Well, if you made it to the championship game, would you throw him?' " Van Horn said. "If it was his bullpen day and he needed an inning or we needed an inning, maybe, but highly unlikely."
Hulkmania!
Arkansas junior outfielder Luke Bonfield is donning a bright yellow, almost sleeveless T-shirt with the word "Hulkmania!" written across the front at practice this week.
It's a badge of honor.
The shirt, which belonged to Arkansas assistant coach Tony Vitello, is bestowed each week by Vitello on the player who has the most quality at-bats, what he calls "quabs," the previous week.
"The story behind a quality at-bat is like a hard-hit ball, get on base, a hit, obviously, a walk, an eight-pitch at-bat, those types of things," Bonfield said.
The players asked Vitello, the team's hitting coach, if they could cut the sleeves up to the shoulder and were given the go-ahead.
"It's like a little competition," said first baseman Chad Spanberger, who has worn it two weeks. "You can't get a hit every at-bat, but you can have a good at-bat if you stick to your approach. That's what we go for."
Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn got a kick talking about the shirt.
"It's goofy," Van Horn said. "That thing popped up about, I don't know, seven or eight weeks ago. ... They reward somebody who had a good weekend, and I guess they gave it to Luke.
"[Eric] Cole was running around in it last week. [Dominic] Fletcher was wearing it a while back. Spanberger, I don't even know if he can fit in it. It's all good stuff."
Pitching plan
Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn said the pitching performances in last week's series victory at Texas A&M set the Razorbacks up well for the SEC Tournament.
"We're in better shape than I thought we'd be in going into this tournament, and I think that's because our starters did such a great job against Texas A&M," Van Horn said. "We didn't have to double up on any of our relievers. They're all available and they're available for extended innings if we need them to go three or four innings or pull one out of there to give us a start."
Van Horn said he would prefer holding right-hander Blaine Knight until Arkansas' third game of the tournament or rest him until an NCAA regional, and that Dominic Taccolini or Jake Reindl are likely to start the Hogs' second game.
Playing the field
Arkansas has a 15-9 record this season against the rest of the SEC Tournament field, including their only league series sweeps against Mississippi State and Georgia.
The Razorbacks did not face Florida and Kentucky, the SEC East teams that earned byes into the double-elimination portion of the bracket, or South Carolina.
All 13s
Arkansas is ranked No. 13 in all five of the major college baseball polls: the USA Today coaches poll, Baseball America, Collegiate Baseball, D1Baseball.com and the National College Baseball Writers Association. The Razorbacks are No. 14 in the NCAA's RPI rankings.
Sports on 05/24/2017