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Arkansas stifled South Carolina in Saturday's doubleheader, shutting out the Gamecocks in two straight games, 2-0 and 3-0, and winning the series in Baum Stadium in front of 5,868 total fans.
The Razorbacks nearly reached perfection in game two as Kacey Murphy lost his perfect game bid with three outs left in the game. Murphy struck out six and walked none on 70 pitches. Shaddy's solo homer in the second inning was the first long bomb for Arkansas (27-10, 10-5) in the last four games. In game three, Isaiah Campbell showed his best stuff in awhile, holding South Carolina scoreless in five innings. Shaddy hit another homer, this time a two-run no-doubter to left center. Cronin came through again with yet another save.
South Carolina (20-16, 6-9) had no answer for Murphy, managing only 1 hit and one baserunner the entire game two. Three different Gamecocks struck out twice. Adam Hill got the start and went five innings, giving up 2 runs on 3 hits and striking out five. USC struggled to find any offense for the second straight game, failing to score on 3 hits. The Gamecocks were held to 4 hits and 0 runs in the doubleheader.
Here's how the Hogs swept the day and won the series:
THE WINNING INNINGS
GAME TWO:
Arkansas starter Kacey Murphy worked a perfect first two innings, striking out three Gamecock batters heading into the bottom of the second. Carson Shaddy put the Hogs on the board first with a solo shot to left center, his eighth of the season, making it 1-0 Razorbacks.
South Carolina made the first pitching change of the game for either team in the bottom of the sixth, bringing in TJ Shook after Adam Hill hit Shaddy with a pitch to lead off the inning. Shook gave up a single to left to Dominic Fletcher, advancing Shaddy to third base. John Gilreath entered to relieve Shook and tossed a wild pitch, scoring Shaddy and pushing Arkansas ahead 2-0.
Murphy's perfect performance continued into the top of the seventh but was ended just three outs shy of its completion when Justin Row hit a leadoff single to left field. Matt Cronin came on in a save situation and recorded his eighth save of the season, sitting down South Carolina in order and sealing the 2-0 shutout victory for Arkansas.
GAME THREE:
The Razorbacks carried momentum from game two and picked up where they left off, taking an early 1-0 lead on a two-out RBI single to center by Heston Kjerstad in the bottom of the first, scoring Luke Bonfield.
In the top of third, Hunter Taylor for South Carolina reached on a single up the middle and eventually advanced to third base after a sacrifice bunt and a groundout but was stranded there.
Arkansas did the same thing in the bottom of the fifth, leaving Jordan McFarland on third base after he had gotten there on a sacrifice bunt and a balk on Cody Morris.
Matt Cronin made his second appearance of the day, this time in relief of Campbell in the top of the sixth, and immediately retired the side.
Shaddy smacked his second homer of the day and ninth of the year in the bottom of the sixth, increasing the Razorback lead to 3-0. Cronin closed things out for his ninth shutout, clinching the second straight shutout and series win, 3-0.
KEY QUOTES
Dave Van Horn on the performance in both games:
"The pitching held them down and gave us an opportunity to win both games...Great job by Kacey of just coming out and working both sides of the plate...Game two, obviously more of the same formula...We pitched extremely well."
Van Horn on Matt Cronin:
"What he does, he just attacks you with the fastball...He just moves it around, he can locate it. Now, he's starting to use his breaking ball more...Not too many guys get on base on him. He attacks you."
Van Horn on what he saw from Isaiah Campbell today:
"You noticed today, he didn't try to...overthrow it. I think he topped out about 92 on the board...just mixed it up, kept them off-balance a little bit...I hope he's back. You know, I think he'll keep climbing. If we can get three guys to give us decent starts on the weekend...one day it's going to be up to you [those] guys."
Van Horn on Jax Biggers' struggles:
"When you think about it, today he lined out two times...He'll be fine. I think every hitter goes through it. You just hope when you're not swinging well, you'll drop one in every now and then...he hasn't gotten any of those."
Carson Shaddy on having Kacey Murphy on the mound:
"It's just incredible what he can do. You're never worried about him out there...He knows how to pitch to people. He put us on his back today."
Shaddy on the pressure to win the series:
"I don't know if it's really pressure, just anger. We felt like we were right there about to take it from them. We feel like we're a better team than they are."
Isaiah Campbell on how he felt today:
"Arm felt really good. I feel like I'm back to 100% health and it felt good to be back out there...My elbow feels back to 100%. It was nice just getting a week off to let it relax and just take a couple of days."
STATS OF THE GAME
GAME TWO:
Kacey Murphy was lights out today, throwing six scoreless innings. He carried a perfect effort into the top of the final inning, losing it with three outs remaining. Murphy's 18 batters retired in a row is just two shy of the Arkansas record of 20.
Before Shaddy's solo home runs today, the Razorbacks had gone four straight games without a homer. Shaddy had 8 on the year and through game two, Arkansas had 57 (Shaddy launched another in game three, bringing those totals to 9 and 58, respectively).
South Carolina third baseman Jonah Bride had reached base in 30 consecutive games coming into today but had that streak broken in game two, going 0 for 3.
GAME THREE:
While overshadowed by Kacey Murphy's showing, Isaiah Campbell had a much-needed quality start in game three, throwing 1 strikeout and 1 walk while holding the Gamecocks scoreless on 2 hits in five innings on the bump. Cronin recorded his ninth save of the season.
Jax Biggers continued to struggle at the plate this weekend, going 0 for 3 in game two and 0 for 1 in game three from the nine-spot. He went 0 for 9 with 1 strikeout and single-handedly stranded 10 baserunners in the series.
Arkansas pitchers issued only 2 walks all series long, and the defense didn't commit a single error. Mostly clean baseball played on the defensive side.
WINNING PITCHER
GAME TWO:
WIN: Kacey Murphy (Arkansas): 6.0 IP (70 pitches), 1 H, 6 K's, 0 BB, 0 ER
SAVE: Matt Cronin (Arkansas): 1.0 IP (13 pitches), 8th save, 0 H, 1 K, 0 BB, 0 ER
GAME THREE:
WIN: Isaiah Campbell (Arkansas): 5.0 IP (66 pitches), 2 H, 1 K, 1 BB, 0 ER
SAVE: Matt Cronin (Arkansas): 2.0 IP (32 pitches), 9th save, 1 H, 1 K, 0 ER
UP NEXT...
Recent rival Missouri State makes a trip to Baum Stadium next week as Arkansas takes on the Bears Tuesday night, April 17 at 6:30 pm (CDT) on SEC Network+.
