South Carolina drops fifth straight despite strong start from Eli Jones
It might have looked a lot better than last weekend, but the result for South Caroilna stayed the same.
The Gamecocks looked much more competitive against No. 3 Arkansas in a hostile environment but it was ultimately the team’s fifth-straight loss, 4-1 to Arkansas.
It’s undoubtedly frustrating for South Carolina, which couldn’t capitalize on one of its best starting pitching performances in recent weeks.
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Injuries forced South Carolina (36-13, 14-10 SEC) to shake up its rotation, thrusting sophomore Eli Jones into his second-ever SEC start in what is a hostile environment.
The Gamecocks’ right-hander looked up for the moment. Jones struck out a career-high 10 over six-plus innings. He’d be credited with just two runs given up, an RBI single in the third and in the sixth when he ran out of gas.
Jones’ day was done after a leadoff walk that would ultimately come around to score after a single and a run-scoring double play.
He looked every bit like a Friday night arm in the SEC, piling up strikeout after strikeout and scattering four hits over five-plus innings. He’d walk just two and look in complete control for most of the game.
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Arkansas hit just 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position off of him and 1-for-7 with runners on base.
But it was the offense that struggled to do anything against an incredibly talented Arkansas pitching staff.
The Gamecocks plated just one run in the game off of ace Hagen Smith, a game-tying Braylen Wimmer RBI single in the sixth but couldn’t muster much after that.
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South Carolina’s first hit didn’t come until the fourth inning, an Ethan Petry single, and the Gamecocks struggled to do much with runners on base most of the night.
They’d finish hitting 2-for-15 with runners on and 1-for-3 with runners in scoring position.
Arkansas broke the game open in the seventh inning, taking advantage of two Cade Austin walks and a single to load the bases. Austin was left in to work out of the damage but gave up a two-run single.
South Carolina couldn’t respond with Michael Braswell just missing a home run in the eighth and both Ethan Petry and Cole Messina striking out swinging with a runner at first.
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Up next: Game two of the series starts Saturday night at 7 p.m. ET. Neither team has named a starter to this point.
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