Bats unable to come through as South Carolina drops series opener
It’s been the story of the year for South Carolina. Almost every time runners get into scoring position, the bats haven’t been able to get the job done.
And despite having multiple chances to score, the No. 20 Gamecocks just couldn’t cash in on Friday. They’d drop the series opener to No. 2 Arkansas, 2-1.
“Great ballgame. Elite pitching and defense on both sides,” head coach Mark Kingston said. “Disappointed we were one run short, but we fought til the bitter end and we’ll be ready to go tomorrow.”
It was a pretty ugly night for the offense as they’d only tally four hits and strike out 16 times. But the bigger issue was going just 1-for-14 with runners in scoring position.
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In what would become a true pitchers duel, Hagen Smith was as good as advertised for Arkansas. But on the flip side, South Carolina (26-12, 8-8 SEC) continued to match him and kept the Razorbacks offense in check.
Roman Kimball got the start on the mound for the Gamecocks and pitched 2.1 scoreless innings. He’d strike out four and walk two on 48 pitches and looked sharp, despite not lasting long.
“Yeah, it was a little bit of a fluky thumb issue. Wasn’t an arm issue, wasn’t a shoulder issue,” Kingston said on why Kimball left the game early. “Something was wrong with his thumb where it just kind of went numb and he couldn’t really hold the ball. So that’s why we took him out of there. He just couldn’t hold the ball and he’s throwing 92 miles an hour. That’s not a good recipe.”
Coming in for him, Ty Good kept up the trend and continued to hold Arkansas at bay. He’d work himself through a few strong innings.
“I felt good for the most part,” Good said. “Everything was feeling good for the most part.”
While Smith was striking out Gamecocks at a high clip, he also struggled to find the zone at times and gave up a few walks. This would become an issue for him in the fifth as he plunked Ethan Petry then walked Talmadge LeCroy. After an infield hit for Cole Messina, South Carolina had the bases loaded with one out.
“I think it was just take team at-bats. We saw him throw fastball-split because that slider is really hard to hit. Swing at the fastball, try to take the slider,” Messina said on the approach. “If that doesn’t work, just move onto the next pitch. But I thought we took good at-bats, ran his pitch count up, had some chances to score. Just wasn’t our way tonight.”
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These opportunities don’t happen often. Coming into Friday, Smith had only allowed eight runs in 47 innings of work. So it was of the utmost importance to score in this spot right here. And they would as Parker Noland brought home the game’s first run on an RBI groundout.
This would be the only time South Carolina really got to Smith. Besides that one run, he was virtually unhittable. Smith threw six innings of two-hit ball while striking out 11 and walking five. He’s now up to 100 strikeouts on the season.
“Well, his average fastball was 98. He threw a slider for strikes all night. And that’s why he’s going to be the first pitcher off the board for the major league draft,” Kingston said. “He’s done that to everybody this year and we were no different. And we didn’t get help in some other areas as well. He made it really tough on us tonight.”
But the Gamecocks wouldn’t hold the lead for long as Arkansas loaded the bases with no outs. After Good came out of the game, Chris Veach threw a wild pitch to the backstop, which allowed a run to score. The Razorbacks got another run off a sacrifice fly, and just like that, the lead was erased.
It would be an otherwise good outing for Veach, who wasn’t charged with either of those runs. He’d end up pitching two innings, allowing just one hit while striking out two and walking two.
Freshmen Parker Marlatt and Jake McCoy would pitch the rest of the way for the Gamecocks. Marlatt managed to get two outs in the eighth before turning the ball over to McCoy. The left-hander went 1.1 innings without allowing a run or hit. He struck out two and walked two on 35 pitches.
“I mean, it was great to see,” Messina said. “Those guys have been key pieces here over the last two or three weeks. Just showed that they can pitch against anybody. That’s the number two team in the country and they shut them down for the most part.”
Down to its final strike in the ninth, Blake Jackson came off the bench and ripped a double into the gap to keep South Carolina’s hopes alive. After an intentional walk to Messina, the Gamecocks had the winning run on first base with two outs. However, Noland grounded out to first to end the threat and game.
Up next: South Carolina will play a doubleheader on Saturday afternoon. First pitch for game one is at 1 p.m. on SEC Network Plus. Eli Jones (3-1, 3.57 ERA) will get the start on the mound. Game two takes place one hour after the final pitch of the first game.
