Jones gets roughed up as South Carolina drops series opener
Friday night starters usually set the tone for what’s to come in a weekend series. For the most part, Eli Jones has done a solid job of giving South Carolina just what it needs each time out.
But for the first time all season, Jones just didn’t have it on the mound. And on a night where a lot of other things went wrong, the No. 22 Gamecocks (21-9, 5-5 SEC) lost to No. 3 Texas A&M, 9-2, on Friday.
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Right out of the gate, the Aggies jumped all over Jones in the first inning. After a one-out walk, the right-hander gave up five straight hits, which led to four runs. He’d get out of the inning without any more damage, but it was a rough start to the night for him.
“They were just on everything he threw — fastball, off speed — they were just on everything he threw and everything they’d hit found a hole,” head coach Mark Kingston said. “Defensively, I thought we could’ve played a little better behind him as well. Just wasn’t his night. He’s been our guy all year. He’ll bounce back.”
Just when it looked like Jones was getting back on track, Aggies left fielder Caden Sorrell drew a two-out walk then stole second base. Nine-hole hitter Ryan Targac drove him in with an RBI single to make it a 5-0 lead in the third.
One batter later, Gavin Grahovac smoked a two-run homer over the left field wall to make it a 7-0 game. After just 2.2 innings of work, Jones’ day was at an end.
Jones gave up seven runs on eight hits while striking out four and walking two on 92 pitches. It was the first start all year in which he didn’t look sharp. It also happened to be his shortest outing this season.
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Behind in a pretty big hole, the Gamecock offense had little to no answers for A&M left-hander Ryan Prager. Outside of a Talmadge LeCroy solo shot in the second, the bats looked lost at the plate.
At one point, Prager retired 11 batters in a row and only continued to pitch better as the game moved along. It wouldn’t be until Cole Messina hit a one-out single into right field to end that skid in the sixth.
Despite that, Prager didn’t seem fazed at all. He went on to retire the next three batters he faced to cap off an impressive 6.1 innings of work. He finished with 12 strikeouts and only surrendered four hits without a walk.
“Look, he’s got everything you want. He’ll be a very high draft pick,” Kingston said on Prager. “He’s got plus command, the breaking ball’s legit. He’s got a fastball with really good downhill planing, it’s really hard to square up. He’s the real deal.”
After Prager exited the ballgame, South Carolina found itself in a position to bring some runs across, something it failed to do all night. With the bases loaded and two outs, Parker Noland brought home a run on an RBI single. But Messina followed up with a strikeout to end the threat. In all, the Gamecocks struck out 17 times.
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In a game without many positives from a South Carolina perspective, Roman Kimball pitched well out of relief. The right-hander had been struggling with command, which moved him out of the weekend rotation a few weeks back. But in a low pressure spot, Kimball pitched 3.1 innings of one-run ball, striking out four and walking two on 54 pitches.
“I felt like that’s the best it’s been in probably three weeks since Clemson,” Kimball said on his command. “Just kind of sat down over the last couple weeks and really watched a lot of film to kind of see what I was doing when I was throwing well and what I was doing mechanically when I wasn’t throwing so well. Kind of figured out that it was a little tempo issue. I was really under control tonight with my tempo. Threw a lot of good pitches.”
Up next: South Carolina looks to even up the series at a game apiece on Saturday afternoon. First pitch is at 4 p.m. on SEC Network Plus. Freshman right-hander Tyler Pitzer (4-0, 1.99 ERA) makes the start on the mound for the Gamecocks.
