Ohio State transfer pitcher Landon Beidelschies was the Buckeyes' Friday night starter last season, but he'll have a much tougher time securing that honor this spring at Arkansas.
The Canfield, Ohio, native started in all 15 of his appearances as a sophomore last spring and he recorded a 4.15 ERA with 91 strikeouts and 31 walks across 84.2 innings pitched. Teams hit with a .231 batting average against him.
According to Diamond Hogs' head coach Dave Van Horn, getting Beidelschies — and highy-touted East Carolina transfer pitcher Zach Root — to campus was not a piece of cake.
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"They had some options," Van Horn said Sept. 3. "Many, many, many options. They could have gone to our league. We would have had to try to beat them, and you know, they came in here because they wanted to be a part of the Arkansas program. Like I said, be with (Pitching coach Matt Hobbs), and I think they just wanted to be on a team with a great pitching staff, and that’s what we foresee."
A 6-foot-3, 225-pound left-hander, Beidelschies was rated as D1Baseball's fifth-best impact transfer pitcher in the most recent cycle. According to their analysis, the lefty has a crafty slider and he sits low 90s with the fastball, but can get up to 94-95 miles per hour.
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"He can spot it up, quick to the plate with his short arm action, a little different," Van Horn said. "Got a good slider and good changeup. He can be a starter, I think he was a starter at Ohio State.
"I think he might have been their Friday starter. I know he was, I don’t even know why I’m talking about it. He can help us all kinds of ways. He can come out of the pen, he can start. I like those kinds of guys, they work quick, quick to the plate. He’s not scared."
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Beidelschies appeared in 24 games as a freshman in 2023 with just one start. He had an identical 4.15 ERA to go with 45 strikeouts and 21 walks in 30.1 innings pitched. Opponents hit for a .226 batting average against him his freshman season.
According to stats compiled by local media, Beidelschies made three starts and four total appearances with the Razorbacks in the fall. He had a 4.76 ERA after giving up three earned runs on five hits in 5.2 innings pitched. The left-hander had four strikeouts and one walk.
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Beidelschies pitched seven innings four times last season for Ohio State, which posted a 29-26 overall record, and he logged a career-high 12 strikeouts in a March 15 loss at West Virginia.
During the Oct. 11 exhibition against Oklahoma State at Baum-Walker Stadium, Beidelschies struck out two batters in his one inning of hitless and scoreless relief. He will be right in the race for being part of the starting rotation, along with Root, Gabe Gaeckle, Gage Wood and others.
"We saw a lot of good things in the fall, and then off-season, I think just because we’ve been around Gabe Gaeckle so much, had him here, we feel like that he will definitely be a starter," Van Horn said Wednesday. "(Zach) Root looks like a starter. Gage Wood. (Landon) Beidelschies. Those are all possibilities, and there are some other guys in there, now."
The Razorbacks will open their season Friday, Feb. 14, against Washington State at Baum-Walker Stadium in Fayetteville.
