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Arkansas Blanks South Carolina To Take Series

Chris Oliver pitched eight scoreless innings as the Hogs used a hot early start to beat the No. 1 team in the country.
arkansas baseball ots left

The Arkansas baseball team picked up its second straight win against the No. 1 team in the country Saturday evening, blanking South Carolina 7-0 at Baum Stadium.

 Junior Chris Oliver put together his best performance as a Razorback, lasting 8.0 innings and giving up just four hits and no runs. He tallied a career-high 10 strikeouts and became the first Arkansas pitcher since Ryne Stanek in 2012 against No. 15 LSU to record double-digit strikeouts in a contest.

The offense backed Oliver from the opening pitch, scoring five runs in the second inning to jump out to its biggest lead of the series. Brian Anderson led the way with his third three-hit game of the year and his team-leading 10th multi-hit contest of the season. Joe Serrano provided the big hit the second inning with a bases loaded single down the right field line to send all three runners racing home.

Arkansas added two more insurance runs later in the game, as Jake Wise converted a squeeze bunt in the fifth and Eric Fisher singled home a run in the sixth to give the Razorbacks all the runs they would need in a 7-0 victory.

 Zach Jackson came on in the ninth and kept the Gamecocks off the board to give Arkansas its seventh shutout of the season and hand Oliver his third win of the year.

“This was a great win for our team,” said Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn. ” I think we played one of our best games of the year. As far as offense, we had clutch hitting and laid down some nice bunts.  We made all the plays in the field, and obviously Chris Oliver did a great job and had great stuff.  He probably had his best breaking ball of the year tonight.”

Arkansas returns to action Tuesday, April 8 for the first of two straight games against No. 25 UNLV at Baum Stadium. First pitch is slated for Tuesday at 6:35 p.m. and Wednesday at 6:05 p.m.

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