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Arkansas

Dave Van Horn says Hunter Hollan will start vs. Santa Clara

Screen Shot 2024-05-28 at 9.09.17 AMby: Kaiden Smith06/01/23kaiden__smith

For the 34th time in program history, the Arkansas Razorbacks have made it to the NCAA Tournament, hosting the Fayetteville Regional as a top seed of a loaded four-team group. The Razorbacks will kick things off with a Friday matchup versus Santa Clara, and on Thursday head coach Dave Van Horn revealed who his starting pitcher would be for the day.

“We’ll go with Hunter Hollan,” Van Horn said. “Started most of the game 1’s for us all year and we just like where he’s at, so we’re going to give him the ball.”

Hollan emerged as a consistent pitcher for the Razorbacks this season in his first year with the team. The 6-foot-5 left-hander from Hallsville, Texas spent two seasons at San Jacinto College before transferring to Arkansas this offseason, making an immediate impact upon his arrival.

Hollan had an 8-2 record on the mound this season for the Razorbacks, ranking second on the team in ERA and innings pitched only behind freshman All-American Hagen Smith. The highlight of his year was his performance just three games ago versus South Carolina, where he pitched all nine innings allowing just five hits, one run, and threw a career-high 10 strikeouts.

He most recently helped lead the Razorbacks to a third-round victory over LSU in the SEC Tournament, pitching 5.1 innings and recording eight strikeouts on the day. And he will definitely need some of that momentum to carry over into Friday, as he’ll face one of the hottest team’s in the country in Santa Clara.

The Broncos will enter the postseason on an eight-game winning streak, winning 17 of their last 20 games fresh off of a WCC Tournament victory. As a team this season, Santa Clara is hitting .300/.403/.491, with a program record 72 home runs on the season.

But thankfully, the Razorbacks have experience and home-field advantage on their side. This will be Arkansas’ 10th time in school history and the fifth time since 2017 hosting a regional, securing wins in their last three home appearances.

They’re the No. 3 national seed hosting TCU and Arizona along with Santa Clara in this year’s Fayetteville Regional, but for now, Hollan and his squad are focused with their matchup versus the Broncos Friday at 3 p.m. ET airing on ESPN+.