Game Preview: Arkansas vs. South Carolina (SEC Baseball Tournament)
HOOVER, Ala. — The 2-seed Arkansas Razorbacks are set to begin their stint at the 2024 SEC Baseball Tournament on Wednesday against the 10-seed South Carolina Gamecocks at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium.
Arkansas (43-12) earned a first round bye as a top-4 seed after posting a 20-10 conference record that was good enough for an SEC Western Division Title. South Carolina (34-21) earned a 10-5 win over 7-seed Alabama on Tuesday afternoon in Hoover to advance to play the Hogs.
Wednesday's matchup between Arkansas and South Carolina is the second game on the tournament schedule to be played and it should start at approximately 1 p.m. CT — more specifically, 30 minutes after the conclusion of the first game between Kentucky and LSU, which starts at 9:30 a.m. CT. The game will be televised on SEC Network.
The winner of the Arkansas-South Carolina game will play the winner of the LSU-Kentucky game in a double-elimination game at 4:30 p.m. Thursday. The losers will play at 9:30 a.m. Thursday in a win-or-go-home game.
ALSO READ: Taking a closer look at Arkansas vs. South Carolina
The Razorbacks and Gamecocks met back on April 19-20 for a three-game series in Columbia, South Carolina, earlier this season. Arkansas took the series opener and the squads split a Saturday doubleheader to allow the Hogs to win two out of three.
"Some tight games," Arkansas head coach Dave Van Horn said Tuesday of the series at South Carolina. "We only know what we know. I guess they’re solid you know. They’ve maybe struggled a little bit the last couple of weeks. But they’re very talented. They have some really good arms. But you know it’s hard to say who they would throw against us. At this time of year you just kind of play and go from there."
WATCH: Dave Van Horn previews SEC Tournament
Prior to Tuesday's win over Alabama, the Gamecocks had lost six games in a row after being swept by both Georgia and Tennessee. South Carolina had 14 hits and four home runs against the Crimson Tide, while reliever Chris Veach tossed 5.2 innings of scoreless ball.
Arkansas most recently dropped two of three games at Texas A&M over the weekend to close out the regular season. The Razorbacks will give sophomore right-hander Ben Bybee (2-1, 6.00 ERA) his seventh start of the season Wednesday against the Gamecocks.
"He’ll be on a pitch count, or we’ll just kind of monitor how it’s going," Van Horn said of Bybee. "Shorter or longer. We’re not going to leave him in because we have available arms. It’s not like we’re getting to the end and we’re trying to get another inning out of somebody or a few more outs.
"If it’s going great, we’ll leave him in until a certain count. If it’s not going great, we’ll get him out sooner than later. He’s throwing the ball well, throwing it over the plate, makes you earn it a little bit and that’s what you want."
South Carolina will start right-hander Eli Jones against the Razorbacks for the second time this season. Back on April 20, Jones allowed just one earned run on seven hits across 4.0 innings in a start against the Razorbacks.
While Jones got the best of the Hogs during that 6-3 win for the Gamecocks in April, Van Horn seemed confident in how his team is preparing.
"Yesterday’s workout was really good," Van Horn said Tuesday. "I think the position players probably didn’t know what we were going to do. Just go out there and take a few ground balls and hit? No, we had a little uptick practice and it lasted a little longer than they probably thought. I thought they responded real well. We put a little pressure on them offensively and on the defensive end, they were working some live, off the bat. I thought it went real well."
Below are notes, details on how to watch, BetSaracen odds and player props and the pitching matchup for Arkansas' game against South Carolina at the SEC Tournament.
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How to Watch/Listen
Who: 2-seed Arkansas Razorbacks (43-12) vs. 10-seed South Carolina Gamecocks (34-21)
When: Wednesday, May 22 at approx. 1 p.m. CT (30 minutes following the conclusion of Game 1, which begins at 9:30 a.m. CT on SEC Network)
Where: Hoover Metropolitan Stadium — Hoover, Alabama
TV/Stream: SEC Network/Watch ESPN (Dave Neal and Chris Burke)
Radio: Learfield Razorback Sports Network (Phil Elson)
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Notes
- The league is utilizing a double first base for this week's tournament in Hoover.
"I like it," Van Horn said. "As a matter of fact, at our workout here today that’ll be the first thing that I do is go over the rules. There’s not a lot of rules but some that you need to know. When you need to use the outside base every time. On a batted ball, throw in the infield you have to hit, we’ll call it the green base because that’s what it is here. Sometimes they’re orange.
"On the initial play, the first play, use the outside bag but then plays after that, if there’s an overthrow or something then you’ve got to use the white base. If there’s a strike three the defender can use either base if the throw draws him to the foul side of the base and the batter/runner can use the inside bag. So just a few little things that the guys really need to know."
- Arkansas left-handed pitcher Hagen Smith was named SEC Pitcher of the Year on Monday. He joined Kevin Kopps (2021) and Nick Schmidt (2006) as the only Razorbacks to earn the award.
- Smith was also the Hogs' only First Team All-SEC selection, while six other Arkansas players earned All-SEC honors from the league's coaches Monday.
- It sounds like Arkansas junior right-hander Brady Tygart is available to throw this week, as Van Horn said Tuesday that "you'll probably see Brady this week."
- Arkansas maintains a 48-37 overall series record against South Carolina, including a 32-23 mark against the Gamecocks in the Dave Van Horn era. Since 2013, Arkansas is 19-9 overall against South Carolina, including a pair of wins this year.
- Wednesday’s match-up between the Hogs and Gamecocks marks the ninth meeting between the two teams in the SEC Tournament and the first since 2018. Arkansas is 4-4 all-time against South Carolina in the conference tournament.
- The Razorbacks, who won the SEC Tournament for the first time in program history in 2021, are 28-30 in Hoover under head coach Dave Van Horn. Arkansas has reached the semifinals in three of the last six tournaments (2017, 2018, 2021) and played for the title twice in that span (2017, 2021).
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BetSaracen Odds
Money Line
- Arkansas (-160)
- South Carolina (+125)
Double R Props
- Arkansas team over 8.5 team strikeouts and over 9.5 opponent strikeouts (-125)
- Peyton Stovall over 0.5 extra base hits and 0.5 RBIs (+160)
- Arkansas over 1.5 team home runs and over 1.5 home runs allowed (+300)
- Ben McLaughlin over 1.5 hits and over 1.5 strikeouts (-110)
- Hudson White over 0.5 home runs and 1.5 RBIs (+475)
- Peyton Holt over 0.5 extra base hits and over 0.5 stolen bases (+1000)
- Parker Coil over 1.5 innings pitched and over 1.5 base on balls (+1100)
(Alternate lines, spreads, team totals and player props are available on the BetSaracen mobile app.)
(Lines and odds are subject to change at any point after the publishing of this story. HawgBeat does not guarantee any bet as a winner or loser. You must be at least 21 years of age to use BetSaracen. If you have a gambling problem, call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit 1800gambler.net)
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Starting Pitchers
Lineups to be posted 1 hour before first pitch.
Arkansas:
SP: Ben Bybee (2-1, 6.00 ERA)
South Carolina:
SP: RHP Eli Jones (3-4, 5.49 ERA)