FAYETTEVILLE — Pitching was the name of the game all weekend between No. 3 Arkansas and No. 6 South Carolina, but it was best exemplified Sunday afternoon during the rubber match between the two SEC titans.
For the third straight game, the losing team finished with just a single run. With the series on the line, it was the Gamecocks who fell victim to left-hander Hunter Hollan’s best outing of his Razorback career.
The Hallsville, Texas, native took a streak of 17 straight batters retired into the ninth inning, receiving a warm ovation from the locals on his last regular season trek to the mound at Baum-Walker Stadium.
"(Pitching coach Matt) Hobbs came to me after the eighth, and he was like, ‘Well?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, I want it,’" Hollan said. "So that was cool."
Hollan was just a strike shy of extending it to 20, surrendering a hit to South Carolina catcher Cole Messina with two away, but a pop-up landed in the glove of shortstop John Bolton for the 27th out of the Hogs’ 5-1 win to claim the series.
"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," Arkansas head coach Dave Van Horn said. "They hit some ground balls, some pop-ups. He got a few strikeouts mixed in there. He just did a tremendous job."
The complete game began with a clean first inning, but a leadoff double threw a wrench into things in the second. Messina roped an 0-1 pitch to the right-center field fence and moved to third on an 0-2 single by first baseman Gavin Casas.
In a bind with nobody out, Hollan proceeded to induce a popout and a liner back to him, which he had plenty of time to throw to third base for an inning-ending double play.
"That was one of the reasons I was able to go nine," Hollan said. "It at least kept me from throwing one more pitch, so that was a big play."
Unfortunately for Arkansas, South Carolina starter Matthew Becker picked up right where his teammates left off Saturday. The first six Razorbacks went down in order against the left-hander, allowing the Gamecocks to jump out to a lead in the third.
The first home run of the series belonged to South Carolina second baseman Will Tippett, who entered the contest with only two on the year.
Trailing 1-0, Arkansas finally received an injection of life from second baseman Peyton Holt, who led off the home half of the third with a single. After a steal of second base, Bolton delivered his second double in as many days to level the score.
"I think that he’s starting to get some confidence, and it’s nice to have a guy down there in the nine-hole that can take a walk, steal a base," Van Horn said. "Now if you can hit a little bit for us, let the top of the order move you around, drive you in. It’s been really good to see."
Both left-handed starters bounced back to work perfect fourth innings, but it was Hollan who really found a groove. A seven-pitch fifth made it eight straight Gamecocks retired for the junior, and then his offense did something it had not done in 14 innings — score twice.
Third baseman Caleb Cali snapped an 0-9 stretch to begin the series with a 102-mph single to lead off the fifth, and Holt’s double — his fifth of six hits of the weekend — gave the Razorbacks two runners in scoring position with nobody out.
"I’ve been waiting for an opportunity all year and I got it, and I think I’ve done a pretty good job playing into my role at the bottom of the lineup," Holt said.
The line continued to move with a two-run single from catcher Parker Rowland. Even though the momentum ran out at the plate, Hollan kept it alive with a third straight perfect frame.
Sunday marked the first time the big lefty made it through six innings since April 14 against Tennessee, and he did so using just 70 pitches.
"I was like, ‘Yeah, I’m probably going nine today,'" Hollan said.
When Hollan trotted out to take the mound in the seventh, the lead had ballooned to 4-1, thanks to a Slavens double and a Cali RBI single. The southpaw sent South Carolina back to the dugout in order yet again, emphatically completing the frame with strikeout No. 9.
The Hogs picked up another insurance run in the eighth, when designated hitter Ben McLaughlin fouled off six straight pitches before taking Gamecock reliever James Hicks deep to right-center.
"That was a big run for us," Van Horn said. "You go from three to four, that’s a little bit difficult. Especially mentally if you’re swinging the bats, that fourth run is a little tough."
After 94 pitches, the game was Hollan’s to finish. He did so successfully with 113 on the afternoon, allowing five hits, walking one batter and striking out a season-high 10.
With the victory, Arkansas remains in sole possession of first place in the SEC, a position it will carry into the final weekend of the regular season. Florida trails by a game, LSU by a game and a half and Vanderbilt by two games.
At 19-8, the Hogs have also clinched a top-four seed at the SEC Tournament, ensuring they will start in the double elimination round.
"We know that we don’t lose home series very often, and we kind of had that mindset going into today," Cali said, "and we took that to heart, and obviously (Hollan) went out there and did everything he could and we went out there and tried to play our hearts out. It was hot out there and it was grueling. It was really fun. It was awesome."
The Razorbacks will wrap up the 2023 regular season with a three-game set against the No. 5 Commodores in Nashville, Tennessee. The series is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. Thursday on the SEC Network.
