They went into a hornet’s nest, and ended up with the result most opponents do.
South Carolina baseball lost 12-2 in its series opener against No. 3 Arkansas at Baum-Walker Stadium, falling behind 7-0 and eventually losing in seven innings on the run rule after Wehiwa Aloy hit a walk-off three-run home run to extend the lead to 10 in the seventh inning.
Arkansas (20-2, 3-1 SEC) got a strong start from ace Zach Root, an outing which ended up being a complete game after the offense ended the evening early. Root allowed just two runs in seven innings on 92 pitches, striking out seven batters while only issuing one walk and giving up six hits.
His own offense gave him a second inning lead when Justin Thomas Jr. hit an RBI single off South Carolina (17-6, 1-3 SEC) starter Brandon Stone. The damage continued in the third inning, but this time with self-inflicted wounds. Stone got himself in trouble with four free passes — three walks and a hit batter — after a lead-off double, the latter two walks both coming with the bases loaded.
Then Arkansas second baseman hit a grounder to short, which should have ended the inning and kept the Gamecocks down three. But shortstop Henry Kaczmar could not field it cleanly, and it rolled into the outfield to score two more runs. Kaczmar did not return to the game, replaced by Will Tippett at shortstop.
Matthew Becker took over for Stone, but the former Friday starter struggled again. Becker surrendered five earned runs on eight hits in just 3 ⅓ innings, raising his season ERA to 6.65.
South Carolina’s offense could not do much with Root all night, only picking up its two runs thanks to a Jordan Carrion RBI groundout in the fifth and a wild pitch with a runner on third in the sixth. No Gamecock had more than one hit, and the only extra base hits came via three doubles from Ethan Petry, KJ Scobey and Talmadge LeCroy.
The closest South Carolina got was a 7-2 game in the seventh, but the Razorbacks responded with five runs in the bottom half of the frame off Becker and Aydin Palmer to end the game early and preserve their entire bullpen for the final two games of the series.
South Carolina will send Jake McCoy to the mound to try to even the series in a 3 p.m. ET first pitch on Saturday.
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