By Otis Kirk
FAYETTEVILLE -- No. 3 Arkansas received a pitching gem from Hunter Hollan on Sunday to take a 5-1 victory over No. 6 South Carolina at Baum-Walker Stadium.
Arkansas (38-13, 19-8) takes the series 2-1 after winning on Friday and losing Saturday night. The Razorbacks have the best overall record in SEC play with only a road series at Vanderbilt remaining. Florida (39-12, 17-9) swept Vanderbilt (35-15, 17-9) this weekend to takeover first place in the SEC East.
On Sunday, Hollan pitched a complete game allowing one run on five hits, walking only one, striking out 10 and throwing 113 pitches, 80 being strikes. Hollan shut down 19 consecutive South Carolina hitters until Cole Messina delivered a two-out single to right field in the top of the ninth. Dave Van Horn was obviously elated with what Hollan gave him on Sunday.
"Really the story of the day obviously was Hunter Hollan," Van Horn said. "He was amazing. He gave up a home run to, I think, the 8-hole hitter, and he was lights out after that honestly. Command was big. We were hoping his command would get a little better than last week.
"Today I felt like he just really pitched. He just pitched. Fastball, changeups, cutters, sliders. He just mixed it, and all of them were right around the plate. Even his misses a lot of times were really close. They got into swing mode because they felt like they were going to be behind 0-1, 0-2. So they just went up there hacking. They hit some ground balls, some popups. He got a few strikeouts mixed in there. He just did a tremendous job."
Hollan was determined to get the complete game.
"Really I had no idea where my pitch count was," Hollan said. "And I think it was in the sixth inning I looked up and I was like at 70-something pitches or 60-something pitches and I was like, ‘Yeah, I’m probably going nine today.’
"(Coach Matt) Hobbs came to me after the eighth and he was like ‘Well?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, I want it!’ So that was cool. I threw 113, that’s the most I’ve ever thrown. But yeah it was good."
Second baseman Peyton Holt did an outstanding job filling in for the injured Peyton Stovall. Holt was 3 for 4 on Sunday with a double. Third baseman Caleb Cali also delivered three hits in four tries including a double and one RBI. Ben McLaughlin hit a solo shot over the fence in the bottom of the eighth for an insurance run.
South Carolina broke the scoreless tie in the top of the third when second baseman Will Tippett hit a solo shot over the fence in left field to start the inning. Arkansas was unfazed though. Holt lead off the bottom of the inning with a single to right field. He stole second and then scored to tie the game on a double by shortstop John Bolton.
In the bottom of the fifth and the game still tied at 1, Cali singled and Holt doubled to start the inning. Catcher Parker Rowland then delivered a single to center that plated both for a 3-1 lead.
Arkansas then scored again once in the bottom of the sixth. With one out, Brady Slavens doubled to right field with one out. After a strikeout, Cali then singled to allow Slavens to cross the plate with two outs and the Hogs now leading 4-1.
Matthew Becker (4-2) took the loss, but pitched well for the Gamecocks. He allowed six hits and four runs in 5.2 innings. He didn't walk anyone and fanned seven Hogs. Former Conway and Crowder College (Mo.) pitcher James Hicks finished up the game. He went 2.1 innings allowing four hits and the solo shot to McLaughlin. He too didn't walk anyone and struck out two hitters.
Friday, May 12, Arkansas 4 - South Carolina 1
Former Batesville standout Gage Wood worked 3.1 innings in relief of Hagen Smith and picked up his second win in as many decisions. Wood struck out four and allowed two hits without walking anyone. For Woods it was the longest outing of his Razorback career to this point.
"It was the longest, and I felt really good out there," Wood said. "In the past, I’ve had trouble finishing it out, and I wanted to make sure I went out there in the ninth, and I just competed and made pitches and didn’t have to give everybody a scare."
Dave Van Horn said the Hogs certainly didn't get any scare from Wood in the ninth.
"To me, it seemed like he was getting better as it went on a little bit," Van Horn said. "Came in, he was OK, threw the ball well. His fastball was a tick harder. As far as command, it was better in the eighth and ninth, it seemed like to me. He dropped another breaking ball in there in the ninth, but he basically just went at them with fastballs. That's basically what we want him to do, just pitch to both sides of the plate and make them swing, and he did it."
Kendall Diggs was 2 for 4 knocking in three runs to lead the Arkansas offense that finished with eight hits. Van Horn praised Diggs for the job he has done with the Hogs missing 2-3 starters in recent weekends.
"Oh, he's been amazing," Van Horn said. "We wouldn't be nearly where we are without his bat. For him to play defense out there, it gets us another DH in the lineup. I mean, he's been nails. For him to get this experience in the outfield, when we get Wegner back probably next week, he might go back to DH, but he might not. The other thing is, it's going to get him ramped up for next year when he'll be probably an everyday outfielder for us."
Saturday, May 13, South Carolina 3 - Arkansas 1
Though the Hogs lost they got a promising performance from Brady Tygart. Limited to a 40-pitch count, Tygart worked three innings, allowed one hit and struck out four throwing 37 pitches. Will McEntire (6-3) took the loss, but the former Bryant ace didn't pitch bad. In six innings, McEntire allowed three runs on five hits, walked two, but struck out nine. The Hogs bats were silent for most part delivering only six hits. Brady Slavens and Peyton Holt each had two and Jace Bohrofen got the only RBI for the Hogs. Dave Van Horn praised Tygart.
"I thought he was good, really good," Van Horn said. "He spotted his fastball in and out. Breaking ball, changeup. And he pitched well. You know 37 pitches and 40 was the most we really wanted him to go tonight. It’s always encouraging. He throws well, limited pitches. But at the same time you’re thinking about down the road. And down the road is getting here. It’s going to be here before we know it. So hopefully we can build him up and next week he can go 50 or who knows what. We’ve got a short week like everybody in the league. So we didn’t want to pitch him too much."
Some fans were critical of Van Horn pulling Tygart. Van Horn admitted he was tempted to leave Tygart in the game.
"Yeah, I mean obviously it’s tempting," Van Horn said. "We’d have liked to pitch him five innings tonight if we could. But we just didn’t feel like that was the safe thing to do. I don’t know. We’d like to start him down the road but maybe we have to just use him out of the pen in relief. We don’t know how we’re going to handle him yet. We’re just going to let him show us what to do a little bit but also the game is going to tell us what to do and how we need to work our pitching staff to win games. Because really the games from here on out, you get to a certain point and it’s all about elimination."
Van Horn also had good words to say about McEntire and noted for the third week in a row McEntire came in when Tygart left.
"Yeah, I think he likes coming out of the pen a little bit," Van Horn said. "He probably likes starting an inning, the way it’s worked out so far. But I think he’s thrown the ball really well. We stretched him out tonight, almost 100 pitches, like 98 or something. And you know he still had the same velocity at the end of the game that he started with for the most part, upper 80s, 90 mph. He spotted up some good cutters and he pitched well."
Up Next
Arkansas will be at Vanderbilt. Thursday's game begins at 6 p.m. CT and will be televised on the SEC Network. Friday night's contest begins at 7 and also on the SEC Network. Saturday's game, marking the end of the regular season, begins at 2 p.m. and televised on the SEC Network+.
Photos Courtesy of Craven Whitlow CW3 Action Sports
