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FAYETTEVILLE — Connor Noland will not pitch against South Alabama this weekend, head coach Dave Van Horn announced Wednesday.

The right-hander is dealing with a “mild” oblique strain on his left side, Van Horn said, and is being held out of Friday’s start for precautionary reasons. Instead, left-hander Patrick Wicklander will move up a day to take his spot and right-handers Caleb Bolden and Kole Ramage - who figured to be competing for the No. 3 spot - will start Saturday and Sunday, respectively.

When asked at Wednesday’s monthly Swatters Club meeting, the veteran coach said he didn’t know a specific timeline for Noland’s return, but he sounded optimistic he’ll be available for the SEC-opening series at Mississippi State next weekend.

“I’m hoping he pitches against Mississippi State,” Van Horn said. “That’s why we’re not pitching him this weekend. I’ve been told it’s mild. If you talked to Connor right now, he’d say, ‘I’m pitching.’ We’re not letting him.”

The injury stems from Noland’s outing against Oklahoma at the Shriners College Classic in Houston.

During the fifth inning, pitching coach Matt Hobbs and Arkansas’ trainers actually went out to check on him, but he stayed in the game.

“We saw he started picking under his shirt there, with his throwing hand under his glove hand and we’re like, ‘Maybe there’s something going on there,’” Van Horn said. “He said, ‘I’m just cramping a little bit.’”

Van Horn said the coaching staff didn’t really believe his explanation, but Noland struck out the batter on the next pitch and got out of the inning with a ground ball to the next batter.

He recorded just one out in the sixth before allowing a game-tying solo home run and a single, which led to Van Horn bringing in a reliever despite Noland having thrown just 70 pitches. It wasn’t until after the game that the coaches talked to him and realized it was more than just cramps.

Arkansas is being extra cautious with Noland because he is expected to be its ace, especially after quitting football to focus on baseball for the first time in his life this offseason. Through three games, he’s shown improvement with a 2-0 record, 2.00 ERA and 19 strikeouts in 18 innings.

“I always say he’s got ‘plus’ secondary stuff,” Van Horn said. “He’s got an average - if you’re talking on a pro scale - type fastball, maybe just a little under. (But) he knows how to compete, he doesn’t get too rattled. He’s made a big jump and he’s a big part of our team.”

With Noland out, Wicklander will start Friday’s game against South Alabama. He has a 3.00 ERA through three starts, but it was a 0.00 until giving up four earned runs and failing to record an out in the second inning against Texas.

He’ll be pitching on one days less rest, but threw only 40 pitches in that game. Van Horn believes he’ll be good to go Friday and he has confidence he’ll have a bounce-back performance.

“Wicklander’s got great stuff,” Van Horn said. “He just didn’t have it last week. I don’t know why. We hadn’t really seen it.”

On Saturday, Bolden will try to build on an excellent relief appearance in which he held the Longhorns scoreless for four innings, allowing only a pair of two-out singles and striking out five.

He has yet to allow an earned run in 10 innings and will be making his second start of the season. Van Horn said he can still add three or four miles per hour to his velocity, which is already back to where it was before he had Tommy John surgery.

“He's almost back to where he was velocity wise, but his command is a lot better now,” Van Horn said. “His change-up is better and as far as the conditioning, he's in great shape, the arm’s in great shape.”

Ramage will be making his third start of the season Sunday and is coming off a solid outing against Baylor. He held the Bears down for three innings, but was ultimately charged with two earned runs on four hits in five innings.

That loss made him 1-1 with a 3.18 ERA in 11 1/3 innings this season.

“He threw real well against Baylor, he just made a couple of mistakes,” Van Horn said. “He’s got a 1-2 count or an 0-2 count on the nine-hole hitter and he hits him in the foot with a back-foot slider. It wasn’t smart, he should have stayed away.”

First pitch Friday is set for 3 p.m., with Saturday and Sunday scheduled for 2 p.m. and noon, respectively. All three games will be streamed on SEC Network-Plus, meaning they can be watched online on ESPN3.com or the WatchESPN app.