By Otis Kirk

FAYETTEVILLE -- Arkansas will finish the midweek portion of the 2023 schedule on Tuesday night in North Little Rock's Dickey-Stephens Park when Lipscomb comes to town.

Arkansas (33-11, 14-7) will face a Lipscomb (23-21, 15-6) squad that won two of three against Notre Dame to begin the season. Lipscomb also beat Louisville 12-7 on April 4, but is 0-8 against SEC foes. They lost three to both Auburn and Mississippi State as well as single games against Tennessee and Vanderbilt. Dave Van Horn talked about how the game against Lipscomb came about.

"The Little Rock game is one of the last games we scheduled," Van Horn said of North Little Rock. "We didn’t schedule it until this past fall. We were kind of looking for the right date. We wanted it to be late to kind of let their field green up, because we’d played there one year and you couldn’t see the ball, because they don’t over-seed it, at least they haven’t in the past. We wanted to go as late as we could. Then we just started scrambling on who we were gonna play. We put it out there, we started making some calls and it worked out for them, because they’re done with school. And they didn’t have a game this week. That’s what gives them an opportunity to drive over, spend the night and relax all day and then go play."

Playing in North Little Rock is something Van Horn finds enjoyable for his team allowing fans in that part of the state to see the team play.

"It’s fun playing there," Van Horn said. "It always seems like the game’s are tight. The crowd’s amazing. They’re pretty loud, when we do something. And there’s been some times we haven’t done a whole lot. Some 2-1 games and not much going on. But I think the players, they don’t really love traveling in the middle of the week, but once we get there they’re glad we’re there and that’s kind of the way I look at it. I like playing there. It’d be easier to play at home. But I think that makes it easier for the fans in that part of the state to get there."

Parker Coil (0-0, 6.23) appears set to get his third start of the season in what will be his 11th appearance on the mound. 

"I think we’re going to start Coil and just let him go an inning or two," Van Horn noted. "Just to let him start. He needs to start. I mean, then after that, I’m not going to say it’s going to be scripted, but almost. Like an inning, two innings. Number of pitches. We’ve just got to do the best we can."

Former Bryant standout Austin Ledbetter, a right-handed pitcher, wasn't on the roster last weekend, but will see action on Tuesday night according to Van Horn.

"Yeah, he’ll get to pitch tomorrow night," Van Horn said Monday. "And he needs to pitch good. He needs to get it going. We need to get him out there and feel good about it. It would be big for him to give us some innings."

Ledbetter has appeared in 12 games, all out of the bullpen. He is 0-1 with an ERA of 7.77. He has one save on the season. Because of injuries the Tuesday pitchers are seemingly always up in the air since many are needed on the weekend. 

"Every Tuesday it is," Van Horn said. "I mean, in a perfect year when everybody’s healthy and you feel good about what you’ve got on the weekend, you know what you’re going to do. You’re going to start a guy and he’s going to give you five or six innings, and he’s going to start again the next week. 

"You like to almost establish a mid-week starter who could be your fourth starter, or if there’s a little injury or you’ve got to try to win a game on Monday in a regional that he could be your guy. And we don’t have that luxury. Now it’s almost like the mid-week games, they’re not in the way, guys need to get play and pitch. But it’s tough when you don’t want to overdo it, because we need them all on the weekend."

Van Horn does feel the younger pitchers getting thrown into the fire has helped them grow up and mature some. 

"Were you in our meeting this morning?," Van Horn said. "Been listening to our conversation? That's basically what we talked about, that all these young pitchers are gaining incredible experience. Maybe for this year, but really for the future, for next year. I mean, Ben Bybee can say 'I've started an SEC game. I've tried finishing an SEC game.' Coil has closed a game out in a tough situation. Yeah, these guys can build off of this. It can propel them into the next year or the next week or whatever. It's been really good to see."

Tuesday's night game will start at 6 p.m.