Kent St. ousts top seed Gators from CWS

OMAHA, Neb. -- Ryne Stanek and Barrett Astin combined on a four-hitter as Arkansas beat South Carolina, 2-1, at the College World Series last night, ending the Gamecocks' NCAA Tournament-record winning streak at 22 games.

The Gamecocks (46-18) will have to beat Kent State in an elimination game tomorrow to keep alive their hopes of winning a third straight national title. Kent State (47-19) eliminated top-seeded Florida, 5-4, in the first game yesterday.

The Razorbacks (46-20) earned two days off and need one more win to go to the best-of-three finals. With Stony Brook and Florida out, the field now is down to six teams. UCLA faces Florida State in an elimination game today, with the winner facing Arizona.

Matt Vinson's RBI single in the fourth inning gave Arkansas a 2-0 lead. Evan Marzilli's two-out triple pulled the Gamecocks within a run in the fifth, but they got one hit the rest of the way.

South Carolina couldn't get much going against the hottest pitching staff in the nation. Arkansas pitchers have allowed two runs in their last 321/3 innings. The Hogs have a 1.75 ERA in eight tournament games.

Kent State scored four unearned runs and another on a wild pitch, then held off Florida's comeback bid in the ninth. The Gators (47-20) loaded the bases with one out against shaky relievers Michael Clark and Josh Pierce, who fought back from a 3-and-0 count to strike out Casey Turgeon and got Justin Shafer to fly out to end it.

The Gators, who reached the CWS finals in 2011, made five errors in two games after ranking seventh in the nation in fielding.