Mistakes loom large for South Carolina in series loss to Arkansas
Typically if you make mistakes against a good team, they will come back to haunt you and make you pay.
South Carolina learned this the hard way on Saturday. After a clean first inning, the Gamecocks had two miscues in the field, which led to three early runs.
And as it turned out, those runs proved to be an early turning point in the game. No. 2 Arkansas picked up a 9-6 win over No. 20 South Carolina (27-13, 9-9 SEC) in the series finale.
“Disappointed we didn’t win the series again. But I just think it shows how close we are,” head coach Mark Kingston said. “And that was my message to the team that we’re close. But these top five teams we’re playing, we got to keep working to get over that little hump there so that we’re a top five team.”
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With one out in the second, Arkansas hit a routine ground ball hit Lee Ellis’ way at shortstop. But his throw was off line and thus allowed the runner to reach on an error. Two batters later, the Razorbacks were in a good spot with the bases loaded.
But it looked like the Gamecocks were going to get out of it Jack Wagner grounded into what should’ve been a tailor-made double play. The flip from Ellis to second was good, but Parker Noland’s throw went high and pulled Gavin Casas off the first base bag. As a result, Arkansas scored a run with two outs.
“That was huge, because that not only gives them three runs that shouldn’t have been on the board, but it stretches and adds pitches to Eskew there and gets him out of the game quicker,” Kingston said. “So it was a big inning. Again, sometimes that happens. Our defense has been pretty damn elite in the SEC so far this year. So that was just an unfortunate inning where we made an error and we didn’t turn the double play that was there. If we did either one of those things they don’t score a run there. And that proved to be big in a three-run game.”
From there, the Razorbacks would score two more runs in the inning, giving Dylan Eskew three unearned runs. Had it not been for this one ugly inning, Eskew might’ve ended up being in line for a potential win, because he pitched very well.
“That’s just as much on me as it is anyone else,” Eskew said. “Can’t be walking people and lulling my defense asleep. So I mean, I take accountability for that too. Just going out there trying to throw strikes and not walk people and it’ll help keep your defense engaged.”
Eskew tossed 5.2 innings of one-run ball, his longest outing of the year. He’d strike out three and walk two on 81 pitches.
“He gave us exactly what we hoped,” Kingston said. “I thought all three guys that we put in the rotation this weekend gave us exactly what we hoped. Roman was dominant until he had to come out of the game with the thumb. Eli Jones pitched well enough to help us win game two. And then, Eskew gave up one earned run in basically six innings. So that’s something we can build on. All three guys gave us a chance to win. And that’s what you ask for when you’re facing the number two team in the country.”
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This effort gave South Carolina’s offense a chance to get back in the game and plate some runs. In the third, Austin Brinling scored from first base on an RBI double off the bat of Cole Messina.
Later in the fifth, Ellis tried to make up for his earlier error with a one-out double into right field. Immediately after, Brinling drove him home with a double of his own to make it a one-run game.
But Arkansas came right back to plate a run of its own in the next inning. With two outs, Peyton Holt lined a single into right field. Ethan Petry made a perfect one-hop throw to home plate, but Dalton Reeves couldn’t come up with the ball as it hit the backstop.
This would be just the beginning of the Razorbacks scoring efforts as they went on to put up a five spot in the seventh. What was once a one-run game had quickly turned into a seven-run deficit for South Carolina.
While there was a long way to go in getting back in the game, the Gamecocks scored three runs in the eighth to cut the lead down to four.
Surprisingly, South Carolina actually didn’t hit too bad with runners on base. The Gamecocks were 5-for-21 with any runners on and 3-for-11 with runners in scoring position. But they were just 1-for-9 in two out situations.
“Obviously, a couple guys had tough weekends. I’m not going to name them, I don’t do that, but a couple guys had tough weekends that they need to bounce back from as we move forward,” Kingston said. “But I thought for the most part, to score 12 runs in one day against that the best pitching staff in the country, I think that’s something that we can build on.”
Up next: South Carolina is back at home to kick off a three-game series with No. 3 Kentucky on Friday. First pitch is at 7 p.m. on SEC Network Plus.
