FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas baseball right-handed pitchers Brady Tygart and Cooper Dossett will not be on the 27-man roster for this weekend’s NCAA Fayetteville Regional at Baum-Walker Stadium.
Tygart is being held out as trainers assess an injury to his shoulder area that has affected his performance in recent weeks. Dossett is out for the season after he suffered an apparent arm injury May 18 at Texas A&M.
Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn said the sophomore Dossett’s injury will not require surgery. He was unsure whether Tygart, a junior, will be available if the Razorbacks advance past their home regional.
“They’re going to have to do some testing — I don’t know the exact word,” Van Horn said of Tygart. “It’s not a ligament. The shoulder is not a problem. It’s something that needs a little time.
“I want guys when they get on the mound they feel good about how they feel and they go pitch, and not have something going on. The mental part of this game won’t let you perform if you’re thinking like that and if you have something going on, which he does.”
Tygart was in Arkansas’ weekend rotation for the first 13 weeks of the season. He had a hiccup early in conference play, but otherwise was solid through the first couple of months.
During a three-week stretch in April, Tygart allowed 5 runs over 17 innings (2.65 ERA) in consecutive starts against NCAA regional teams Alabama, South Carolina and Florida, including a pair of starts on the road.
Tygart was taken out of the rotation after consecutive short starts at Kentucky and at home against Mississippi State in late May. In those games he struggled to command his fastball, allowing 9 runs, 9 hits and 8 walks in 4 2/3 innings.
He was kept off the roster for the team’s final regular-season series at Texas A&M, then brought back in a relief role against Kentucky last week at the SEC Tournament. The first inning went well, but the Wildcats scored 3 runs (1 earned) against him on 1 hit, 1 walk and 1 hit batsman in his second inning of work that did not include an out.
“If he was pitching like he could and has in the past, I’d say it was a big loss,” Van Horn said. “If you’re talking now, it’s a big loss from two months ago or a month and a half, but we’ve been playing down the stretch with short starts and out of the pen, scrambling. I’d rather start guys that you’re not just on pins and needles on how it’s going to go, and that’s kind of been what’s going on when he’s on the mound. We didn’t know how he felt.”
Tygart has a 3.75 ERA and 1.38 WHIP in 59 1/3 innings this season. Dossett had a 5.17 ERA and 0.89 WHIP in 15 2/3 innings over 14 relief appearances.
Van Horn did not name a starter for Friday’s regional opener against Southeast Missouri State. He said he will do that at the regional administrative meeting Friday at 4 p.m.
“I want to wait until the teams have all practiced,” Van Horn said. “Let them practice without knowing who they’re facing.”
