South Carolina clubs trio of homers in series-opening win over Florida
The odds weren’t in Will Tippett’s favor. To say he had been struggling would be an understatement. Coming into Friday, the Gamecocks shortstop was 0 for his last 16 and hitting just .143 at the plate.
At this point, he was basically a guaranteed out in the lineup. But despite this, Mark Kingston continued to believe. He knew at some point his offense would catch up with his defense.
After striking out in his first at-bat, Tippett got ahead in the count 3-1 against Florida right-hander Brandon Neely. With some good zip on his fastball, why not try to blow one by him? What were the chances he’d be able to catch up to it?
But just when you least expected it, Tippett did the unthinkable. He got a good swing on Neely’s pitch right over the heart of the plate and hit a solo homer into right field. It wasn’t just an important hit for Tippett, but it also was for the Gamecocks, who would go onto win 10-3 over No. 24 Florida on Friday.
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“We made an adjustment in terms of just saying he’s going to hit right-handed the rest of the way. And you saw why,” Kingston said. “He has the ability to change the game like that if he can make contact. So that was really good for him and his confidence, I think. And that will help him. It’s good for us just to see that he’s capable of doing it.”
Along with Tippett, South Carolina (24-10, 7-6 SEC) clubbed two more homers off Neely. Parker Noland hit a solo shot in the second at-bat of the game. And two batters before Tippett’s homer in the fifth, Talmadge LeCroy tagged Neely for a solo homer into left.
This was just what Eli Jones needed as he looked to bounce back after being hit around by Texas A&M last weekend. The right-hander had his best stuff going early, retiring the first seven batters he faced.
“I think I had a little bit of everything going at the same time. And I haven’t seen much of that this year — stuff is here and there,” Jones said. “But seeing the majority of my stuff going at once is good to see.”
But for some reason, he’d struggle to work through the bottom of Florida’s lineup. In the third eight and nine-hole hitters Tanner Garrison and Michael Robertson hit back-to-back doubles to tie the game at one.
Then in the fifth, Jones worked himself into another jam. Once again, he put Garrison and Robertson on base with one out as the top of the order came up. He’d strike out leadoff man Cade Kurland for the second out.
His toughest out still remained, though. Jac Caglianone, college baseball’s version of Shohei Ohtani, strolled up to the plate as the go-ahead run. This was a spot where he usually thrived. But on the first pitch, Jones got him to hit a hard grounder to Gavin Casas who’d step on the first base bag for the final out.
“Obviously, I know he’s one of the best hitters in the country. And everyone knows that,” Jones said. “He steps up in the box and the whole crowd goes crazy. Obviously I know it in the back of my mind. But no matter who’s in the box, I’m facing a nameless, faceless player. I know what I’m good at and I’m going to throw to my strengths and try to get guys out. And we did that tonight.”
It would end up being a much more Jones-like start as he’d go six innings of one-run ball. He struck out six and walked two on 76 pitches.
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With Neely nearing the end of his outing, South Carolina managed to tack on a few more runs in the seventh. After Casas led off with a triple, Cole Messina brought him home with an RBI single into left. Later in the frame with Neely out of the game, Kennedy Jones worked a bases loaded walk to make it 5-1.
For Messina, who was returning from a concussion and hitting leadoff, he ended up going 3-for-5 on the night.
“I was joking around saying, ‘Come on coach, put me up there,’ and I even did it in the fall World Series,” Messina said. “(Kingston) came up to me today and was like, ‘You ready to set the tone?’ And I said, ‘Yes sir. Whatever’s needed.'”
Just when it seemed the Gamecocks were fine, the Gators came right back with a quick counter punch. With a runner on, Caglianone smoked a 1-1 pitch from Garrett Gainey over the right field fence. It was 18th homer of the year, which made it a 5-3 game in the seventh.
“Well, there were two outs, you have a four run lead, you don’t invite another run with a 15 home run guy on deck,” Kingston said on decision to pitch to Caglianone with a base open. “If that’s a two-run ballgame, you have a decision to make. Four-run ballgame, there was no decision to be made. The guy hit a homer, but we still had a two-run lead. And you don’t invite more runs when you’re up by four in that situation.”
However, South Carolina responded with a five-run ninth to go up 10-3. From there, Chris Veach, who came in for the eighth, would pitch one last clean frame to seal the deal.
Up next: South Carolina will go for the series win in game two on Saturday. First pitch is at 4 p.m. on SEC Network Plus. Right-hander Ty Good (4-0, 1.93 ERA) will make his second start of the year.
