South Carolina drops opener to Florida but clinches spot in SEC Tournament
All South Carolina needed to lock up a spot in the SEC Tournament was either a win this weekend at Florida or a Mississippi State loss.
They didn’t get the first—falling 14-5 to the Gators Thursday night—but did get into the league tournament thanks to a dominating Tennessee win over the Bulldogs.
“I wouldn’t say I have huge emotion over it. Obviously, our goal is not just to get to Hoover,” Mark Kingston said.
“However, in such an unprecedented season with how much we’ve endured, we are going to Hoover when I think 99 percent of teams—if they lost the amount of pitching down to six scholarship pitchers—to battle in this league I think very few teams would get there.”
Outside of securing a spot in Hoover, it wasn’t a night to remember for South Carolina, which drops to a paltry 3-13 on the road this season.
It was a tough night for the Gamecocks on the mound, giving up 14 runs while walking seven to 10 strikeouts. Of the 16 hits allowed, seven were for extra bases as South Carolina pitchers gave up four home runs.
“It’s a really good offensive club on the other side and we made some mistakes,” Kingston said.
The Gamecocks (26-26, 12-16 SEC) didn’t use any of their best bullets Thursday.
Neither of the remaining starters—Noah Hall nor Will Sanders—nor relievers Cade Austin and Matthew Becker didn’t throw in game one.
The biggest question now becomes if South Carolina will hold Sanders or any other pitchers to be ready on Tuesday in Hoover.
“To be determined. Noah’s going to start tomorrow. I’ll see how that game’s developing and we may see how the flow of that game is going,” Kingston said. “I still think the number of games you win in the regular season still does matter. I want our guys to know we play to win every game. But we will have an eye on what’s best for next week too.”
South Carolina also dips back to .500 on the year. The Gamecocks will need to win one of the next to games to avoid a losing record entering the SEC Tournament.
Offensively South Carolina couldn’t muster much, plating a pair in the third on a two-run double from Andrew Eyster. They’d get two more in the fifth on a throwing error and bloop RBI double from Braylen Wimmer.
But things dried up the final four innings with the Gamecocks getting just one run—a pinch-hit, two-out solo home run from Jack Mahoney—on two hits to end the game.
South Carolina hit 2-for-13 with runners on base and also had two hits in seven at-bats with a runner in scoring position.
“You had 97 and 98 out there. That’s a real arm. That’s a borderline first-round arm. We battled,” Kingston said. “We battled him hard, hit some balls hard. But he was just better than us tonight.”
The Gamecocks could also be without everyday left fielder Brandt Belk, who injured his neck crashing into a wall in the fifth inning.
He stayed in the game and ultimately went 1-for-4 but his status moving forward is still to be determined. Game two of the series is scheduled for 7 p.m. Friday night, weather permitting.
“Our guys are fighting their ass off. We have our left fielder running through the wall. We have three guys out there playing with ankle sprains. We have a first baseman playing with a hurt arm where he can’t play third base,” Kingston said.
“They’re playing hard. They’re playing their ass off. We just weren’t good enough on the mound tonight.”
