Hogs vs. Gamecocks

South Carolina takes advantage of short outing by Knight.

FAYETTEVILLE — The Arkansas Razorbacks loaded the bases in four innings against South Carolina, but none of those runners came home to score.

The failure to get timely hits doomed the No. 3 Razorbacks as South Carolina hung on to win 3-2 on Thursday night at Baum Stadium before an announced crowd of 6,329.

The Razorbacks got the tying run on base in the bottom of the ninth inning when Eric Cole reached on an infield single with one out, but South Carolina reliever Eddy Demurias struck out Heston Kjerstad and got Luke Bonfield on a groundout to third baseman Jonah Bride to end the game.

Replays showed that Bride’s throw to first baseman Matt Williams barely beat Bonfield, who was racing down the line.

The Gamecocks (20-14, 6-8) became the first SEC team to beat the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville at Baum Stadium this season, and the first to beat them in a conference series opener.

Arkansas (25-10, 8-5) won its first six SEC home games — sweeping Kentucky and Auburn — and had been 4-0 in conference series openers.

The Gamecocks ended the Razorbacks’ winning streak at six games.

Arkansas fell to 19-3 at Baum Stadium this season and is now 7-6 in one-run games.

Sawyer Bridges and Demurias combined to shut out the Razorbacks over the final five innings.

Arkansas ace Blaine Knight (6-0) pitched a season-low four innings and came out of the game with the Razorbacks leading 2-1.

Knight allowed 6 hits and 1 run with 4 strikeouts. He didn’t have a walk and threw 70 pitches, including 48 strikes.

Barrett Loseke replaced Knight in the fifth inning and allowed a two-run home run by Carlos Cortes that gave South Carolina a 3-2 lead.

It was Cortes’ eighth home run of the season.

South Carolina freshman pitcher Logan Chapman went 4 innings and allowed 7 hits and 2 runs.

Arkansas took a 2-1 lead in the fifth inning when Cole hit a lead-off single against Chapman and scored when Casey Martin doubled and Cortes bobbled the ball in the left-field corner for an error.

Justin singled in the second inning and scored on Hunter Taylor’s two-out double to give South Carolina a 1-0 lead.

The Razorbacks tied it 1-1 in the bottom of the second on singles by Bonfield and Dominic Fletcher, and Grant Koch’s sacrifice fly.

Arkansas loaded the bases in the second inning — after scoring a run — and again in the fourth, fifth and seventh without scoring.

Jax Biggers popped out to end the second inning and hit into a double play to end the fourth. Koch flied out to end the fifth and grounded out to end the seventh.

The fifth inning was especially frustrating for the Razorbacks, as they essentially got five outs from the Gamecocks.

South Carolina turned just one out on what should have been a double-play grounder, and the catcher Taylor dropped a popup by Koch before he flied out. Fletcher also reached base that inning on a catcher’s interference call.

In tonight’s second game of the series, junior left-hander Kacey Murphy (4-2, 2.31 ERA) will start

NWA Democrat-Gazette/ANDY SHUPE Arkansas freshman Casey Martin gestures to the Razorbacks’ dugout after driving in a run with a double in the third inning of Thursday night’s game against South Carolina at Baum Stadium in Fayetteville.

NWA Democrat-Gazette/ANDY SHUPE Arkansas catcher Grant Koch watches as his second-inning sacrifice fly sails to the outfield to score a run during the No. 3 Razorbacks’ 3-2 loss to South Carolina on Thursday at Baum Stadium in Fayetteville. Koch finished 1 for 3 with an RBI.