Gunnar Hoglund leaves Ole Miss' loss to A&M with forearm stiffness

Gunnar Hoglund left in the first inning of his start against Texas A&M with forearm stiffness.

The Aggies won 9-8 on a walk-off home run from Will Frizell, but the bigger thing for Ole Miss’ season happened in the opening frame with Hoglund. The junior missed his start two weeks ago with bicep soreness and pitched six innings last week against South Carolina -- though he left the game after 73 pitches.

“He had some stiffness in his forearm and didn’t feel good,” Ole Miss head coach Mike Bianco said. “He went out there and you could tell in the first inning.”

The Rebels are now 32-13 overall and 13-9 in the SEC. Texas A&M is 26-22 overall and 6-16 in the SEC. The series continues at 11 a.m. Saturday and will be on ESPNU.

Hoglund threw just 18 pitches, eight strikes, giving up two hits and a walk out of the five batters faced. Derek Diamond began warming almost immediately after the game began and replaced Hoglund following Taylor Smith’s two-run double.

Hoglund’s midweek bullpen was normal without any pain or stiffness, but he began to feel the stiffness in his forearm during several of his warm-up throws on Friday.

"He mentioned it in the bullpen,” Bianco said. “We talked to him and he said there were just a couple pitches in the bullpen where he said it felt a little stiff. Like three pitches warming up.

“Josh Porter, our trainer, looked at him and evaluated him. He said he wasn't feeling any pain. He felt good. He wanted to go out there. Once we started noticing the command went awry we went out there and he said he was still feeling the stiffness so that's when we took him out.”

Hoglund’s previous season-low outing was 5.1 innings which he’s done three times. He hasn’t allowed more than three earned runs in any start in 2021, and this is only the third time this season he’s struck out fewer than eight batters.

MLB.com had Hoglund No. 8 overall to the Rockies in its mock draft on Wednesday.