***2021 Baseball South Carolina (25-11) vs Arkansas (31-7) Game 3 Thread***

[ConwayGamecock]

View attachment 827​

[COLOR= rgb(153, 0, 0)]2021 South Carolina Gamecocks Baseball Official Game Thread[/COLOR]​

 [COLOR= rgb(153, 0, 0)]  South Carolina [/COLOR]vs[COLOR= rgb(153, 0, 0)] [/COLOR]Arkansas  [SIZE= 28px] [/SIZE]​

Founders Park, Columbia, SC​

Friday April 23, 2021 7:00 PM​

GAME 3​

#11 SOUTH CAROLINA GAMECOCKS (25-11,  11-6) VS #1 ARKANSAS (31-7, 12-5)
7:00 P.M.  |  COLUMBIA, S.C.  |   FOUNDERS PARK

GAME NOTES:  PDF | WATCH:  | LISTEN: 107.5 The Game | Live Stats

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- A huge 6th inning from the Gamecock bats provide the go-ahead offense and strong relief pitching contains the hot Razorback hitting, as 11th ranked South Carolina takes the middle game 6-2 over #1 ranked Arkansas in the best-of-three series. The deciding 3rd game comes tonight as the second of today's double-header - the game is set to start at 7:00 PM, and will be streamed on SEC Network Plus. Every Gamecock contest will be on the Gamecock Radio Network with Derek Scott and Tommy Moody on the call.

PARKING INFORMATION
For the 2021 season, there will not be shuttles from either the Key Road Gravel Lot or the Colonial Life Arena parking lot. There will be passes at lot 1 available for $10 apiece.
 
Parking Lot Openings
7 p.m. Games - Gates open at 6 p.m., all lots open at 5:30 p.m.
2 p.m. Games – Gates open at 1 p.m., all lots open at 12:30 p.m.

PROBABLE PITCHING ROTATION
Saturday
South Carolina Will Sanders (Fr. RHP) 6-1, 2.11 ERA, 6 BB, 40 SO
Arkansas TBA

The top-ranked Razorbacks came into the series 7th in the nation in scoring and 2nd in hitting home runs per game, but were held to just 4 hits, 1 home run, and 2 runs, and held to only 2 hits and 1 unearned run in the final 7 innings. The Gamecocks starter Brannon Jordan battled for 4.2 innings, allowing 3 hits and 2 runs - 1 earned - with 4 strikeouts and 4 walks, before giving way to reliever Andrew Peters in the 5th inning. Peters (4-1) would earn the win pitching 3.0 of shut-out baseball, with 3 strikeouts and 1 walk. Closer Brett Kerry earned his 4th Save pitching the final 1.1 innings allowing 1 hit, with 3 strikeouts and 0 walks.

The big 6th inning started with a 1-out walk to Braylen Wimmer. Wes Clarke singles to advance speedy Wimmer to 3B. After an Arkansas pitching change, David Mendham is also walked to load the bases, and another pitching change comes up for the Razorbacks. 

Then with the bases still loaded, Andrew Eyster singles in Wimmer, Josiah Sightler is walked scoring Clarke, Colin Burgess flies out to right scoring Mendham, and finally George Callil singles to right field scoring Eyster.

The 4 runs would push South Carolina's forward to lead 4-2, and they would not relinquish it. They would add 2 more runs to their lead in the bottom 8th inning with a 1-out double by Sightler, and a single from Burgess scoring Sightler, then after a Arkansas pitching change, a single from reserve Michael Robinson who came in at 3B for Jeff Heinrich, that scored Burgess. It was Robinson's first RBI as a Gamecock. 

 

[ConwayGamecock]

Arkansas leads 2-1 in the bottom 4th inning. The Razorbacks got their runs in the 3rd inning on a bad inning for Will Sanders - 4 of their 5 hits thus far were all singles to score their runs. The Gamecocks got one back in the bottom 3rd with a 2-out solo home run from Brady Allen.

2-1 Arkansas bottom 4th inning:

This Arkansas pitcher is a good one - they most likely have been stacking their weekend pitching rotation.

Wes Clarke strikes out. David Mendham strikes out. Andrew Eyster flies out.

We just got to stay close with them, and hope this pitcher wears down.

2-1 Arkansas top 5th.....

 

[ConwayGamecock]

2-1 Arkansas top 5th inning:

Well, Will Sanders was in control of the inning - he gave up a walk in the middle of two strikeouts, and had the next batter at 1-2, but gave up a fat pitch, and that batter sent it out of the ballpark for a 2-RBI home run. Sanders gets out of the inning the rest of the way, but a good offensive team now leads against us 4-1.

bottom 5th inning:

And our own bats are struggling thus far - Colin Burgess reaches base via hit-by-pitch, but the rest of the inning goes down 1-2-3.

4-1 Arkansas, top 6th......

 

[ConwayGamecock]

We're not making this pitcher work for his innings, and he's a good strong pitcher. He could complete-game us tonight, and that would be pretty bad. In any regard, Arkansas also have two pretty strong closer type pitchers out of their bullpen that they can use, so this series is in doubt.......

 

[ConwayGamecock]

Arkansas adds to their lead 5-1 in the top 7th inning. Julian Bosnic has come in for Will Sanders.

Three straight ground-outs in the bottom 7th for South Carolina, and we move on to the top 8th. The Arkansas pitcher has thrown 83 pitches in 7.0 and is on his way to a complete game effort....

 

[ConwayGamecock]

5-1 Arkansas bottom 8th inning:

Their top closer Kopps, comes in for their starter.....

 

[ConwayGamecock]

5-1 Arkansas, bottom 9th inning:

The Arky closer faces 6 Gamecock batters in his 2.0 innings. He gets 6 strikeouts.

5-1 Final as Arkansas wins the series against the Gamecocks. But this was why winning those series against Florida, UGA, LSU, and Missouri were so important: there were other SEC opponents that would give us a rough time later in the season. Regroup and get ready for the Citadel Tuesday.....

 

[gamecock88]

We struggle hitting for long stretches and that hurts big time vs better competition and pitching.   Arkansas was the better team in this series.   Good to get one win I guess.  

 

[kingofnerf]

Well, the Hogs' starting pitchers for Games 1 and 2 had ERAs above 4.0, but Van Horn evidently saved his best pitcher for the Game 3.  Wicklander went 7 IP with an ERA of 2.20.

We seem to struggle against pitches with any decent amount of movement on it.

Giving up 5 runs against the #1 team in the country isn't that bad; we just couldn't hit the ball again.

I just don't understand our batting struggles this late in the season.  Another game where an opponent just needed to only score two runs total to beat us.  SMDH.