FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas squandered a six-run lead in its series opener against South Carolina on Friday night, but third baseman Matt Reynolds insisted the loss wasn’t “the end of the world” for the Razorbacks.
Reynolds and the Hogs proved it Saturday.
Hours after the disappointing start to the weekend, No. 18 Arkansas turned in one of its best offensive efforts during a 7-6 win against No. 5 South Carolina in front of an announced crowd of 6,747 in Baum Stadium.
It helped Arkansas (34-14, 12-11 in Southeastern Conference) even the three-game series with the Gamecocks (35-12, 15-8). It also snapped South Carolina’s 12-game SEC win streak, which dated back to April 7.
“Great job by this team,” Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn said. “Unbelievable. … It was just a great team effort. One of the best I’ve been involved in a long, long time.”
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Arkansas collected 17 hits Saturday, which was one off its season-high of 18.
Reynolds led the way by going 3-for-5 with 2 RBIs. But the junior — who was the only Arkansas player to get a hit over the final seven innings of Friday night’s collapse — wasn’t alone Saturday. Leadoff hitter Tim Carver and designated hitter Derrick Bleeker also recorded three hits in the win.
“We have a strong team, a strong team in the locker room and a bunch of strong coaches,” said Reynolds, who reached base for the 31st straight game when he singled in the fourth inning. “We just came back and fought hard.”
The Razorbacks got offensive help from unexpected places, too. Outfielder Matt Vinson earned his first start since April 14 and responded by going 2-for-3 with two doubles.
Van Horn said he wanted his best defensive lineup on the field with starting pitcher Randall Fant on the mound. So Vinson — who hadn’t even traveled with the team during road trips to Ole Miss and Florida — responded by leading off the third inning by legging out a double. He scored Arkansas’ first run a little later and added an RBI double in the fourth.
“I always want to be in the game,” said Vinson, who was hitting .150 entering the game. “I’m a competitor and I always want be on the field. But it was just being patient and working with the coaches.”
Arkansas needed every hit from Vinson and his teammates to fend off the Gamecocks.
South Carolina scored the first run in the third, when Fant struggled by walking three batters and hitting another. Reliever Brandon Moore got the Razorbacks out of the inning, but surrendered game-tying home runs to Christian Walker and Chase Vergason in the fourth and fifth innings, respectively.
The game was tied 4-4 after five before Arkansas finally took the lead for good on outfielder Jacob Morris’ RBI single off Jordan Montgomery in the sixth. Carver followed Morris with another RBI to make it 6-4.
“They did a good job of hitting,” South Carolina coach Ray Tanner said. “They do a good job of using the whole field and they were tremendously effective (Saturday).
“We hung around and kept battling into a situation where we had a chance to tie the game late and win it, but they had a great offensive day and were better than us.”
Arkansas had to survive some nail-biting moments the rest of the way, though.
South Carolina scored a run in the eighth inning on a groundout by pinch hitter Brison Celek to close the gap to 6-5. But Arkansas outfielder Brian Anderson hit a two-out double and Reynolds drove him in with a single in the bottom half of the inning, helping Arkansas regain a two-run lead heading to the ninth.
“It was huge,” Van Horn said of the run. “It took a lot of pressure off us. When you need three outs and you have a two-run lead, it just seems like it’s a lot bigger than a one-run lead mentally, and we needed it.”
Arkansas closer Barrett Astin surrendered a run on a single by pinch hitter Kyle Martin, but struck out outfielder Tanner English to secure his ninth save. Arkansas reliever Ty Wright (1-0), who threw 1 2/3 scoreless innings, got the first win of his career.
Montgomery (4-1) took the loss after allowing five runs on nine hits in 5 1/3 innings.
Arkansas and South Carolina will play the final game of the series today at 1:05. Right-hander D.J. Baxendale (6-2, 3.47 ERA) will be on the mound for the Razorbacks, while Tanner said righty Forrest Koumas (2-2, 7.36 ERA) is the probable starter for the Gamecocks.
“Hopefully we’ll come out and play solid baseball again,” said Van Horn, whose team will try to win its second straight series against a team ranked in the top five.