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GAMECOCKS TAKE SERIES WITH 10-7 WIN OVER ARKANSAS
Fayetteville, Ark. –
Scoreless through sixth innings, third ranked South Carolina erupted
for a combined 10 runs in the seventh and eighth innings and held on
for a 10-7 victory over 13th ranked Arkansas on Sunday afternoon to win
the rubber game of the three-game series, the sixth consecutive series
victory for the Gamecocks. South Carolina is now 36-12 and 16-8
in the SEC, tied for first place with LSU and currently one game ahead
of Kentucky for first place in the Eastern Division. Arkansas
falls to 34-15 and 12-12 in the SEC.
Gamecock right-hander Matt
Price earned the win in relief and is now 4-3 on the year after working
the final 3.2 innings of the game. Arkansas starter DJ Baxendale
suffered the loss and is now 6-3 for the season. He allowed four
runs on five hits with one walk and seven strikeouts.
Baxendale
and Carolina starter Forrest Koumas were very effective through the
first two-thirds of the game with neither allowing a base runner to
cross home plate. Koumas, in his second start of the year, went
5.1 scoreless innings and allowed two walks and five hits with four
strikeouts.
Arkansas threatened in the bottom of the sixth
inning loading the bases with one out against Koumas. Jacob Mahan
singled, as did Dominic Ficociello and Matt Reynolds walked to fill the
bases for the Razorbacks. With Price on in relief for the
Gamecocks, South Carolina kept it at 0-0 as a flyout by Derrick Bleeker
turned into a double play as right fielder Adam Matthews heaved a
perfect throw to catcher Grayson Greiner, who tagged out Mahan to keep
the game scoreless.
Carolina rode the momentum of the double
play into the seventh inning scoring four times against Baxendale to
take a 4-0 lead. Christian Walker led off with a base hit.
On the play, an errant throw by Baxendale off the mound went past
Ficociello at first allowing Walker to advance into scoring
position. With one out and Walker still on second base, Arkansas
elected to intentionally walk Greiner. With two outs and runners
still on first and second base, Matthews followed his heroics on the
field with a RBI base hit up the middle scoring Walker for the first
run of the game. Chase Vergason followed with a base hit up the
middle as well to score Greiner and Tanner English kept the hit parade
going as he singled to center field scoring both runners and giving the
Gamecocks a four-run cushion.
Arkansas answered in the bottom of
the seventh with three runs to cut the Gamecock lead to 4-3. The
Razorbacks strung together four consecutive hits to open the frame with
singles from Bo Bigham, Brian Anderson, Jacob Morris and Jake
Wise. Morris’ single would score a pair of runners with Wise’s
base hit giving the Razorbacks runners on first and second with no
outs. Tim Carver would sacrifice both of them into scoring
position. With one out and runners on second and third, Mahan
tallied his second hit of the game with a base hit to right
field. Morris would score but Matthews again came up with a
stellar throw from the outfield as he threw out Wise trying to score
the tying run at home plate. Upset over the play, Wise spiked his
helmet and would be thrown out of the game. With two outs and
Mahan on second base, Price got out of the inning with a groundout by
Ficociello to keep Carolina ahead by a run.
The Gamecocks batted
around in the top of the eighth inning and scored six more runs to
extend the lead to 10-3. Joey Pankake led off the frame with a
base hit off of Arkansas reliever Michael Gunn and Evan Marzilli was
hit by a pitch. After a wild pitch advanced the runners, the
Razorbacks intentionally walked Walker to load the
bases. Arkansas would bring on closer Barrett Astin,
who struck out LB Dantzler for the first out of the inning. With
one out, Grayson Greiner came up with a big hit as he knocked a RBI
single into left field scoring a pair of runners. Michael Roth
then roped a RBI double into the gap in left-center that also scored
two runs. A two-out double to right field by Vergason and a RBI
single up the middle by Tanner English gave the Gamecocks a seven-run
lead.
Arkansas looked to mount a rally with two runs in the
eighth inning on a two-out pinch-hit RBI single from Jimmy Bosco.
Having crept to within five runs, Arkansas scored two more in the ninth
as Reynolds tallied a RBI double and Bigham singled with two outs to
score a run. Price, however, closed it out as he got Anderson to
line out to Pankake at short sealing the Gamecock victory.
The
5-6-7-8-9 hitters for the Gamecocks drove in all 10 runs on the
afternoon. Vergason went 3-for-4 with two runs and two RBI.
English was 2-for-3 with three RBI. Greiner and Roth both drove
in two runs. Arkansas had 15 hits with Ficociello 3-for-5.
Mahan, Bigham, Anderson all had two hits apiece as well.
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