FAYETTEVILLE – Hunter Hollan threw a complete game gem to lift No. 3 Arkansas (38-13, 19-8 SEC) to a 5-1 series-clinching win against No. 6 South Carolina (37-14, 15-11 SEC) on Sunday afternoon at Baum-Walker Stadium.
With the win, the Hogs secured their seventh SEC series victory of the season and improved to 30-4 at home this year.
Hollan struck out a career-high 10 batters, limiting the Gamecocks to just one run on five hits and one walk. The left-hander threw a season-high 113 pitches in his nine-inning complete game and recorded 19 consecutive outs until a two-out single in the top half of the ninth inning.
The performance marks the Razorbacks’ first complete game of at least nine innings against an SEC team since Dominic Taccolini’s 10-inning complete game shutout against Kentucky in 2016. Hollan is the second Arkansas pitcher to throw a complete game this season after Will McEntire twirled a nine-inning complete game against Louisiana Tech on April 11.
South Carolina’s lone run of the game came via a leadoff home run in the top of the third. Hollan was untouchable from that point forward, however, allowing the Arkansas offense to hit its groove and take control of the ballgame.
John Bolton’s one-out RBI double to right center in the bottom half of the third tied things at one apiece before Parker Rowland’s go-ahead two-run single to center in the fifth. Rowland’s clutch piece of hitting put the Hogs ahead, 3-1.
Arkansas tacked on two more runs with a two-out RBI single by Caleb Cali in the sixth followed by a two-out solo home run by Ben McLaughlin in the eighth, extending the lead to 5-1. Cali and Peyton Holt both finished with a team-leading three hits, and Rowland collected the Razorbacks’ lone multi-RBI performance of the game.
The Hogs’ four-run lead was more than enough for Hollan to protect as he finished off his complete game with a scoreless ninth inning, securing the Razorbacks’ series-clinching win and put the Hogs in the driver’s seat of the SEC.
Arkansas now owns a one-and-a-half-game lead over LSU in the SEC Western Division and a one-game lead over Florida in the overall SEC standings with three games left to play in the regular season.
Up next, the Hogs will travel to Nashville, Tenn., to close out the regular season at Vanderbilt. First pitch between the Razorbacks and Commodores is scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday, May 18, on SEC Network.
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Note to Our Readers: The previous story was sourced directly and in its entirety from the University of Arkansas Office of Communications, Oliver Grigg.
