SEC BASEBALL : Keuchel silences South Carolina

BY RICK FIRES

Posted on Monday, May 12, 2008

URL: http://www.wholehogsports.com/adg/225551/

FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas listed “To Be Announced” as its Sunday starter before beginning a crucial SEC series with South Carolina.

That pitcher turned out to be Dallas Keuchel, who delivered the best performance of his young career at Arkansas. Keuchel pitched eight scoreless innings as Arkansas defeated South Carolina 4-2 to complete a sweep of the Gamecocks before 5, 067 at Baum Stadium.

South Carolina, which leads the SEC in home runs, was in danger of being shut out until James Darnell connected for a two-run home run against reliever Mike Bolsinger in the ninth inning. Bolsinger recovered from the drive and retired the next three batters to end the game.

Keuchel (4-2 ) finished with a career-high 10 strikeouts and left to a standing ovation and hog calls after Justin Smoak singled to lead off the ninth. The sophomore left-hander from Tulsa scattered five hits and walked two against a South Carolina lineup that featured four batters with at least 14 home runs.

The wind was blowing out Sunday, which made Keuchel’s mastery of the Gamecocks even more impressive.

“That was a scary day against a scary lineup, and I’m surprised there was only one home run hit,” Arkansas Coach Dave Van Horn said. “I’m sure South Carolina felt like they had the advantage with 92 home runs going into today, but Dallas did a great job. He kept them off balance, and you could see they were really frustrated in that dugout. Even when Dallas got behind a little bit, he threw strikes when he needed.”

Arkansas (31-20, 13-13 ) improved its chances of making the eight-team SEC Tournament. The Razorbacks will start the final weekend in no worse than eighth-place in the jumbled SEC standings, and South Carolina (34-18, 13-14 ) is now among the teams on the outside looking in.

Arkansas will play a makeup game against Mississippi Valley State today before the Razorbacks can turn their attention to last-place Mississippi State. The Bulldogs look like easy prey, but they could be a feisty opponent in the final three games of longtime Mississippi State Coach Ron Polk, who announced his resignation earlier this season.

While it’s hard to project how many victories Arkansas still needs to secure an SEC Tournament berth, the Razorbacks are in much better position after sweeping South Carolina at home. The Gamecocks held a 9-3 lead in the series opener Friday when freshman Jacob House hit a grand slam with two outs in the ninth inning to give Arkansas a 12-11 victory.

The Razorbacks used that momentum for a 6-3 victory on Saturday then finished the Gamecocks off behind Keuchel on Sunday.

“When you look back, that was just a huge hit,” Van Horn said of House, who made the most of his only plate appearance of the series. “Had we lost, the sweep opportunity would’ve been gone and a chance to really gain some ground would’ve been over. It was a scrappy weekend for our team, and I’m really proud of the way we came out and got after it.”

Andy Wilkins provided the big hit for Arkansas on Sunday with a two-run double to put the Razorbacks ahead 3-0 in the third inning. Keuchel made the lead hold up by getting ahead of the hitters and avoiding the big inning. He walked only two and worked out of his biggest jam when he struck out No. 3 hitter Justin Smoak with two runners on in the third.

“My changeup had more movement on it than usual, and they were just hacking at it,” said Keuchel, who threw 118 pitches in a crisply-played game that lasted only 2 hours, 22 minutes. “I wanted to keep the ball down and get ahead of guys, and I was successful at it.”

Keuchel was the winner over Blake Cooper (5-5 ), who went 71 / 3 innings and allowed 4 runs on 6 hits for South Carolina. The sweep was the first for Arkansas over South Carolina.

“Dallas Keuchel pitched a tremendous game for Arkansas,” South Carolina Coach Ray Tanner said. “You’ve got to give him credit. He was really spectacular. He hit his spots and was able to get his changeup in there. Our guy, Blake Cooper, battled extremely hard as well, but we didn’t threaten until the very end.”