Arkansas pitcher Cooper Dossett suffered an injury to his throwing arm during the Razorbacks’ regular season finale and has not pitched since.
On Thursday, Razorbacks head coach Dave Van Horn gave a definitive update on the right-hander’s availability through the rest of the postseason — he’s being shut down for the rest of the year.
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Dossett finished his sophomore season with Arkansas having made 14 appearances out of the bullpen for Van Horn’s squad this year. He pitched 15.2 total innings while putting up a 5.17 ERA to go with a 3-1 record. He logged 20 strikeouts on the season.
Losing Dossett only further things the Razorbacks’ pitching staff, who already are down Colin Fisher and Hunter Dietz for the season as well.
Still, the Razorbacks head into the NCAA Tournament with a 43-14 overall record. Arkansas hasn’t been the most prolific at the plate this season, but Van Horn’s group has one of the best pitching staffs in the country despite falling in numbers.
Despite that, the Razorbacks have struggled in recent weeks. Arkansas is just 4-7 in its last 11 games, all of which came against SEC opponents. Notably, seven of those games came against teams who are going to be hosting a Regional thanks to their schedule in the SEC.
They’ll be matching up against the likes of Kansas State, Louisiana Tech and Southeast Missouri State (SEMO) for a chance to advance to the Super Regionals.
“Our regional is a true regional,” Van Horn said. “Louisiana Tech is about four or five hours away, SEMO is 5 hours away or something like that, and K-State is 5 and a half (hours) away. It should be really good crowds. I would think the other teams would be able to bring a lot of fans. But I don’t know.
“You never know what’s going to happen this time of year, who’s hot, who’s not, who’s hurt, who’s not, who’s sick, who’s not— we’ve been on both sides of it. So [I’m] just started to be back playing here.”
As regional hosts and a top-eight seed in the tournament, the Razorbacks will also be able to host a Super Regional if they can advance through. Arkansas will battle Southeast Missouri State in its opening round matchup of the Fayetteville Regional. First pitch is scheduled for 2 p.m. ET and will air live on ESPN+.
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