South Carolina falls short in series finale as Florida snaps 6-game losing skid
South Carolina had done just about everything it needed to this weekend. Play better on the road? Check. Win an SEC series? Check. The only unchecked box left was to complete the sweep.
But at the same time, Florida badly needed a win. The No. 24 Gators were sputtering, losing six straight games coming into Sunday.
In a game where Florida scored early and often, the Gamecocks (25-11, 8-7 SEC) dropped the series finale, 11-9, on Sunday afternoon.
While it’s not the result the team wanted, winning an SEC weekend series on the road is nothing to slouch about.
“Every weekend is big. I mean, we’re not going to play a team that you think is easy to beat, whether we’re at home or on the road. Every team in this league is great,” head coach Mark Kingston said. “So to have a road series win, it’s huge. I mean, Mississippi State came in here and Florida won the series. And Texas A&M came in here, who I think right now may be the best team in the country, and did not come out of here with a series win. So the fact that we were able to come in here and do that, I think that’ll serve us well as we move forward.”
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After giving up an early run in the second inning, Jac Caglianone settled in on the mound. He’d make it through five innings of three-run ball, striking out five and walking four. South Carolina had its chances to make him pay but really couldn’t do so. The offense went 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position while he was on the mound.
The only other blemish on Caglianone’s line was a two-run homer off the bat of Ethan Petry in the third. But it was more than a good enough outing to give the Gators a chance.
Meanwhile, Florida teed off on Matthew Becker, who made his fourth start of the year. The Gators scored five runs in the second to jump out to an early lead. And for Becker, he would only last 2.1 innings, giving up six runs on five hits while striking out three and walking two.
“They were just on everything he was throwing. Whether it was fastball, whether it was off-speed, they were just on it,” Kingston said. “We’ve got to look into that and figure out why. And I know he’ll bounce back. He always does. He’ll bounce back.”
Dylan Eskew came in to relieve Becker in the third and pitched fairly well. When the right-hander came out of the game, he pitched three innings of one-run ball. But before exiting, he got himself into a jam and put two runners on as he turned the ball over to Chris Veach.
“He pitched fine. I mean, looking at his line, three innings, three earned runs. So I’m not going to say that was a great performance,” Kingston said. “But he gave us a chance, he kept us in the ballgame, and gave us a chance to score runs and get back in the ballgame.”
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From there, the Gators would explode for five more runs in the sixth to take a six-run lead after the Gamecocks made it a 6-5 game. In the blink of an eye, Florida had gone back up 11-5.
After pitching two scoreless innings on Friday, Veach did not have his best stuff on Sunday. He only lasted 0.2 innings and gave up two runs on three hits.
Despite trailing, South Carolina continued to fight back. In the eighth, they loaded the bases with nobody out and scored two runs. However, it came at a cost as Parker Noland grounded into a double play with no outs. This essentially killed any chance of making it a bigger run-scoring inning.
To say the least, it was a struggle to do anything with men on base. The Gamecocks went 1-for-15 with runners in scoring position and 1-for-8 with two outs.
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Still, the fight was there. With one out in the ninth, Dalton Reeves hit a two-run homer to cut the lead down to two.
“Now he’s got about as clean a swing as we have, which was very low maintenance. He’s got power, obviously, it’s a very simple swing that he can repeat,” Kingston said. “So you combine all those things with a guy that’s played a lot of baseball, he’s an older guy. And he’s given us some our best at-bats consistently.”
However, that would be as close as the Gamecocks got as Fisher Jameson went on to retire the next two batters to seal the deal.
“So I think offensively, we had a great weekend that we can build on. Found another hitter that’s going to be in there every day now, because he’s earned it — Reeves,” Kingston said.
Up next: South Carolina will make one more stop on its road trip before heading back home. The Gamecocks will be in Charleston on Tuesday to take on The Citadel. First pitch is at 7 p.m. on ESPN Plus.
