Sorry for the lack of updates last week, guys. I was on vacation, but I’m back now and the updates will return to their regularly scheduled frequency!

All good things must come to an end, I guess. Unfortunately, this ending happened a lot sooner that anyone would’ve liked.

South Carolina lost to Arkansas 2-1 in an SEC showdown winner’s bracket game tonight in Omaha. The Yardcocks will take on Kent State Wednesday night at 8 ET, and the winner of that game will face Arkansas. Carolina will have to win three straight games in order to play for the title.

With the loss, a couple record streaks were snapped. The postseason winning streak ended at 22 and the Omaha win streak ended at 12. Those are still amazing numbers, though, and we should all be incredibly proud of what the teams have done over the past few years.

Very few things went right for the Gamecocks tonight, especially on offense. They were never really able to get much of anything going, and while Arkansas’ bats were fairly quiet, too, they were simply the better team and did enough to win.

USC starter Colby Holmes struggled early, allowing a run in the top of the first. Tim Carver singled to lead off and got to second on a sac bunt. Dominic Ficociello doubled later in the inning to bring Carver home.

The Hogs added their second run in the fourth inning. Brian Anderson walked, stole second base, and came across the plate thanks to a two-out RBI single from Matt Vinson.

South Carolina got on the board in the fifth, when Evan Marzilli  smacked a two-out triple that scored Chase Vergason.

The Cocks were outhit 6-4 and each team recorded an error.

Holmes pitched only 3 2/3 innings before being lifted. He allowed two runs on four hits, walked two batters, and also struck out two. He took the loss and drops to 7-2 on the season. Tyler Webb was the only other pitcher for the Gamecocks tonight, and he did a fantastic job. Webb went 5 1/3 scoreless innings and gave up only two hits. He walked just one batter and K’d four.

Razorbacks starter Ryne Stanek earned the win and improves to 8-4. In six innings, he surrendered only one run on three hits, walked two batters, and also struck out two. Closer Barrett Astin worked three innings and gave up only one hit. He issued no free bases and K’d one batter. He also got the save, his 11th.

Stanek said after the game that it “felt good to knock [the Gamecocks] off their perch,” and then smiled. First of all, I’m sure your pun was unintentional, but gamecocks are birds and birds sit on perches…anyway, while I understand he was excited, that seems like kind of an obnoxious thing to say. The Hogs did almost everything right tonight, though, and earned their win.

Arkansas is now 46-20 and 2-0 in Omaha. USC drops to 46-18 and 1-1 in the CWS. Like I said, they’ll play Kent State Wednesday at 8 ET in an elimination game. The Flashes eliminated Florida Monday afternoon, so the Yardcocks will have to be firing on all cylinders and find a way to do what they do best – battle.