March 19, 2005
Columbia, S.C. – South Carolina hit Arkansas with a nine run fourth inning Saturday, including home runs by Steven Tolleson and Chris Brown, and downed the Razorbacks 12-3 to even a Southeastern Conference baseball series at one game apiece.
Steve Pearce also homered, a two run shot in the eighth inning for the final South Carolina scores.
The final game is scheduled for 12:30 p.m., Sunday at Sarge Frye Field. The second ranked Gamecocks improved to 17-2, 1-1 in the conference, before a crowd of 4,290. Seventh ranked Arkansas is also 17-2, 1-1.
Senior right-hander Zac McCamie allowed five hits and one run over seven innings to improve his 2005 record to 5-0. His two year career mark is 12-0. Arkansas starter Charley Boyce allowed three runs in three innings and took the loss to drop his record to 3-2.
Arkansas took a 1-0 lead with a second inning run on an infield hit by Danny Hamblin, a walk and Brian Walker’s RBI hit.
South Carolina sent 13 batters to the plate in the bottom of the fourth on six hits, a hit batter, an Arkansas error and two walks. Pinch hitter Tommy King drove in two with a bases loaded double, Tolleson hit a three run homer, his second of the season, Brown hit his second with the bases empty, and Jon Willard, Davy Gregg and Brendan Winn also drove in a run in the inning .
Willard and Gregg had RBI singles and Winn was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded. Boyce was relieved by James Gilbert after the first three Gamecock batters reached in the fourth. Gilbert failed to retire any of the three that he faced and the Tolleson and Brown home runs came off Devon Collis, the third Arkansas pitcher of the inning.
Conor Lalor pitched the final two innings for South Carolina and allowed four hits and two Razorback runs in the eighth inning. Casey Rowlett drove in a run with a double to extend his hitting streak to 18 games. Rowlett scored on a hit by Jake Dugger.
South Carolina scored once in the seventh on a hit, a fielder’s choice and two wild pitches and the Gamecocks matched the two Arkansas eighth inning runs with the two run Pearce homer, his fifth of the season.
South Carolina finished with 10 hits, two each by Tolleson, Brown, King and Michael Campbell. Arkansas recorded nine hits with Hamblin the only Razorback with two. Brown scored four runs for the Gamecocks.
Freshman right-hander Wynn Pelzer, 1-0, 0.61 earned run average, is South Carolina’s scheduled starting pitcher for Sunday with Arkansas expected to start freshman right-hander Shaun Seibert, 2-0, 1.40.
