Cole Messina's monster game lifts South Carolina baseball over Arkansas in SEC Tournament
HOOVER, Ala. ― There's a mystery forming at the 2024 SEC Tournament, and two teams have now tried and failed to solve it.
How do you get South Carolina baseball catcher Cole Messina out?
Messina slugged the No. 10 seed Gamecocks into the winner's bracket, smashing a pair of two-run homers that made the difference in USC's 6-5 victory over No. 2 seed Arkansas on Wednesday.
The first shot, Messina's 19th on the season, broke a 2-2 tie in the fifth inning. After Arkansas rallied to tie the game in the seventh, Messina went deep again in the ninth for No. 20 on the season. That one put the Gamecocks in front for good.
The junior also homered in a victory for the Gamecocks (35-21) over Alabama on Tuesday. In eight SEC Tournament at-bats, he has six hits, three home runs and eight RBIs.
The Razorbacks (43-13) joined the Crimson Tide on the list of pitching staffs with no answer for Messina, who also drove in South Carolina's second run of the game with a single up the middle.
No. 11 seed LSU will be the next team to try to solve Messina when the Tigers and Gamecocks play on Thursday (5:30 p.m. ET, SEC Network).
South Carolina, Arkansas baseball go to their bullpens early
It looked like South Carolina starter Eli Jones might be able to carry the Gamecocks through the middle innings, but a fourth-inning error altered the course of his afternoon.
A surefire double-play grounder back to Jones ended up in center field following an errant throw, putting runners on the corners. Jones generated a shallow fly-out from the next batter before departing for Ty Good, who allowed a sacrifice fly that tied the game 2-2 in the fourth inning.
Arkansas opted to start the game with sophomore Ben Bybee, who had made one SEC start this season. The Gamecocks chased him on an RBI single by Messina in the third inning.
FULL UPDATES: South Carolina baseball live score updates vs No. 2 seed Arkansas in SEC tournament
South Carolina baseball bullpen does enough
After allowing one of the runners he inherited from Jones to score, Good looked like he might spend the rest of the afternoon overpowering the Razorbacks.
Entering his third inning of relief, though, he finally faltered, leaving a pair of inherited runners for Garrett Gainey, who failed to strand them as Arkansas erased a two-run deficit in the seventh.
Gainey recovered to keep the game tied and end the threat. He managed a clean eighth and pitched into and out of trouble in the ninth.
David Eckert covers Ole Miss for the Clarion Ledger. Email him at deckert@gannett.com or reach him on Twitter @davideckert98.
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This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: South Carolina baseball beats Arkansas in 2024 SEC Tournament
