OMAHA, Neb. — Arkansas’ players didn’t react much Friday night after Jake Wise swung at strike three from Matt Price to end the Razorbacks’ baseball season one victory short of the College World Series championship series.
They mostly stood and watched from the rail of the visitors dugout as South Carolina rushed the mound to celebrate their 3-2 victory at TD Ameritrade Park.
South Carolina’s second victory over Arkansas (46-22) in as many days gave the Gamecocks a chance to play for a third consecutive national championship. South Carolina (49-18) will face Arizona (46-17) in a best-of-3 series that begins tonight to decide the national champion.
Arkansas had won seven consecutive games decided by one run before Friday night’s loss.
“South Carolina did a great job of manufacturing a run there late to win the game,” said Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn, whose Razorbacks lost in the semifinals at the College World Series for the second time in four seasons. “I just feel bad for our players. They fought hard.”
South Carolina had to beat Arkansas twice after the Razorbacks won 2-1 Monday to end the Gamecocks’ 22- game winning streak in the NCAA Tournament. South Carolina started Thursday morning with a 4-1 victory over Kent State and ended Thursday night with a 2-0 victory over the Razorbacks to force Friday’s deciding game between the SEC rivals.
Arkansas jumped ahead 2-0 on an RBI single and sacrifice fly by Matt Reynolds, who ended an 0-for-15 slump at the plate. But South Carolina fought back and took the lead with the help of nine walks by Arkansas pitchers, including a bases-loaded walk by Barrett Astin in the seventh inning that forced in the go-ahead run.
That was all the edge Price (5-4) needed as he struck out five in 3 innings to earn his fifth victory in three years at the College World Series. Colby Suggs (7-1) took the loss for Arkansas after walking three batters in two innings.
“It was just one of those games we were very fortunate,” South Carolina Coach Ray Tanner said. “We just kept grinding it out. We caught a break there with the walk, and we were able to hang on.”
Arkansas finished 7-3 in the NCAA Tournament and came within one victory of playing for the national championship for the first time in 33 years. That came in 1979, when Arkansas lost twice to Cal State Fullerton in the championship round.
Arkansas also finished third nationally in 2009, when the Razorbacks went 7-2 and lost twice to LSU, the eventual national champion.
“Any time you get to the College World Series it helps your program,” Van Horn said. “It’s definitely going to help the confidence of the players in your program. Hopefully, it helps build support among your fan base, and our fan base has been incredible.”
Arkansas will have some holes to fill next season when the SEC expands to 14 teams with the addition of Texas A&M and Missouri.
The Razorbacks had eight players selected in the recent major league draft, and top juniors like Reynolds and pitcher DJ Baxendale are expected to turn pro. The Razorbacks also will lose seniors Tim Carver and Bo Bigham, who manned the middle infield positions for much of the past four seasons.
The top returners will include pitcher Ryne Stanek, first baseman Dominic Ficociello and infielder/ outfielder Brian Anderson, who started 33 games as a freshman this season.
“Going to the College World Series has always been a dream of mine,” said Reynolds, who led the Razorbacks in hitting this season with a .323 batting average. “We knew we had the team to do it this year. We went through a struggle midseason, but we never gave up and we kept fighting, and I think we really jelled as a team early in the postseason.
“It’s a bad feeling that it came to an end like this.”
Razorbacks glance
RECORD 46-22 (16-14 in SEC) SEC TOURNAMENT 0-2 NCAA TOURNAMENT 7-3 EXPECTED DEPARTURES Seniors: SS Tim Carver (.299, 2 HRs, 30 RBI), 2B Bo Bigham (.269, 1 HR, 18 RBI), OF Sam Bates (.240, 6 HRs, 25 RBI); Underclassmen: 3B Matt Reynolds (.323, 7 HRs, 45 RBI), P DJ Baxendale (8-5, 3.11 ERA), P Nolan Sanburn (4-1, 2.43 ERA) TOP RETURNEES P Ryne Stanek (8-4, 2.82 ERA), 1B Dominic Ficociello (.290, 6 HRs, 41 RBI), P Brandon Moore (5-2, 2.43 ERA), P Barrett Astin (3-5, 1.99 ERA), OF Brian Anderson (.283, 2 HRs, 11 RBI)
Sports, Pages 21 on 06/24/2012