Baseball Splits Doubleheader with Arkansas
COLUMBIA – The University of South Carolina baseball team split a doubleheader with No. 2 Arkansas Saturday afternoon (April 20), winning the first game, 6-3, before falling in the nightcap, 9-6.
South Carolina scored a pair of runs in the second inning of the opener on a two-run single from Talmadge LeCroy. Arkansas answered with a run in the fourth but Carolina put up a four-spot in the bottom of the sixth. Austin Brinling singled home Gavin Casas to make it 3-1. After an Ethan Petry RBI groundout, Parker Noland drove in a pair with a single to right. Arkansas plated runs in the seventh and ninth, but the Gamecocks closed it out in the ninth for the win.
Eli Jones struck out three and allowed seven hits and a run in four innings. Matthew Becker picked up the win, striking out two in 2.1 innings of relief while Connor McCreery picked up his first save of the season with a strikeout in two-thirds of an inning.
At the plate, Brinling, Noland and Kennedy Jones had two hits apiece, while Noland drove in a pair.
In the second game, Arkansas scored three unearned runs in the second, but Cole Messina doubled in Brinling in the third to cut the Razorback lead to 3-1. It was 3-2 in the fifth after a Brinling double scored Lee Ellis.
Arkansas put up a run in the sixth and five runs in the seventh. Carolina came back with three runs in the eighth with run-scoring hits from Blake Jackson and Dalton Reeves and a Talmadge LeCroy sacrifice fly. Messina drove in a run in the ninth but the Gamecocks fell to split the twinbill.
Noland and Ellis had two hits apiece, while Messina drove in a pair in the second game. Dylan Eskew had three strikeouts and allowed four hits and one earned run in 5.2 innings, taking the loss.
POSTGAME NOTES
- Messina drove in his 100th career run in the second game.
- Brinling was 4-for-10 with two RBI and three walks in the series.
- Carolina had five doubles in the second game, two from Ellis.
UP NEXT
Carolina will take the midweek off for final exams and return to the field on Friday, April 26 to face No. 3 Kentucky. First pitch is set for 7 p.m. and the game will be streamed on SEC Network Plus.
