Healing Hogs
Tygart could return to UA bullpen this weekend
FAYETTEVILLE — The University of Arkansas’ injury story took a potentially good turn this week.
Outfielder Jared Wegner underwent surgery to put pins in his injured left thumb Monday and ace reliever Brady Tygart improved from a strained elbow ligament to the threshold of returning to competition.
There is a chance Tygart makes the No. 5 Hogs’ travel roster for their weekend series at Georgia and a solid opportunity for the sophomore right-hander to get back in action.
The Razorbacks (30-7, 11-4) will put their 1½ - game lead in the SEC West on the line starting tonight at 6 at Foley Field in Athens, Ga., against the SEC East’s last place but dangerous Bulldogs (20-17, 4-11).
Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn provided updates on his team’s top slugger Wegner (.351, 12 HR, 44 RBI) and Tygart (1-0, 5.68 ERA, 1 save) following Tuesday’s 6-3 win over the University of Central Arkansas.
Wegner, who has played only one inning of defense since suffering a hairline fracture on April 11, is sporting a cast on his left hand and is expected to be out 3-4 weeks, perhaps hastening his return.
“[They] put a couple of pins in it, just to hold the bone in place,” Van Horn said. “Just normal standard procedure. We’ll just keep him in shape. And we’re hoping to get him back probably [for] South Carolina [May 12-14] or Vandy [May 18-20] for sure.
“Once three weeks are up, he should be able to go pretty good, as far as it’s healed. [Then] it’s just a matter of building it up.”
Tygart has not pitched in a game since suffering a sprained ulnar collateral ligament in his right (pitching) arm on March 1. He’s been building up his arm strength for a few weeks.
“He’ll probably be on the 27-man [roster] and that’s the key,” Van Horn said. “You see him on there, you’ll probably see him throw.”
Arkansas will enter a weekend with only one named starter — left-hander Hunter Hollan (6-1, 2.81 ERA) for tonight’s opener against freshman right-hander Kolten Smith (1-1, 4.80) — for the third consecutive week.
While right-handers Will McEntire (5-1, 5.20) and Ben Bybee (2-0, 4.76) are potential starters along with wild card lefty Hagen Smith (5-1, 2.79), Van Horn said the staff will be utilized on a game-togame basis as it has been for recent weekends.
“I think everybody in the league knows what we’re doing and they get it,” Van Horn said. “So it’s just the way it is. If we get Tygart back, we might start announcing some [starters].”
While Arkansas has lost only one series, at LSU, to pull slightly ahead of the Tigers, Georgia has won only one SEC series (vs. Kentucky) and the Bulldogs have been swept by SEC East leaders Vanderbilt and South Carolina.
One thing that hasn’t been a problem for Georgia is hitting and scoring runs.
The Bulldogs are hitting .262 in league play, 18 percentage points better than the Hogs, and they’ve hit 65 home runs as compared to 60 for Arkansas.
“If you look at Georgia, they got off to a great start this year in the regular season from opening day, and they’ve hit all year,” Van Horn said. “They’ve done nothing but hit and score runs, hit home runs. They’ve played a really tough schedule, nonconference schedule.”
Georgia has scored 10-plus runs in 13 games and they’re 12-1 in those games. Arkansas has scored 10 or more runs in 12 games.
Georgia has two of the league’s top hitters in freshman Charlie Condon (.444, 17 HR, 53 RBI) and senior Connor Tate (.369, 12, 38).
The Bulldogs are coming off a 5-4 win at Clemson, which improved their record to 3-2 against ACC teams.
“Just a really good win,” Georgia Coach Scott Stricklin said. “We needed it. I thought we played pretty well [last] weekend and didn’t win the series, so disappointing there. But we turned around and played really clean baseball.”
Georgia beat Florida 13-11 on the road in last weekend’s opener before dropping the next two games 2-1 and 11-6.
The Bulldogs have weekend starters in lefties Liam Sullivan (4-2, 4.14), Jaden Woods (3-2, 5.59) and Charlie Goldstein (1-1, 5.67) on tap.
Arkansas has gone 17-7 against the Bulldogs since 2010, but Georgia won the last series at Athens. The Bulldogs preserved the rubber game 3-2 on left fielder Keegan McGovern’s double-play throw to the plate to nail Heston Kjerstad for the final out after Dominic Fletcher’s fly ball on May 18, 2018.
Georgia preserved Tuesday’s 5-4 win at Clemson, its first one-run victory of the season, by throwing out a runner at the plate for the game’s final out. It’s the first time Georgia has won a game with an out at the plate since the win over Arkansas five years ago.
The Bulldogs improved to 1-5 in one-run games. Arkansas is 3-0 in one-run games.
Arkansas has three healthy regulars hitting .336 or better
in outfielder Jace Bohrofen (.388, 10, 32), Kendall Diggs (.345, 8, 38) and Tavian Josenberger (.336, 7, 27).
The Bulldogs have announced junior lefties Charlie Goldstein (1-1, 5.67) and Liam Sullivan (3-2, 5.59) will start Games 2 and 3, respectively.