South Carolina hangs on to grab midweek win with SEC play on deck
Now the real fun begins.
In one final tune-up before SEC play starts, No. 20 South Carolina (14-3) picked up a 4-3 win over Georgia State in North Augusta on Tuesday.
“I think we’re a work in progress like every team in America,” head coach Mark Kingston said. “We’re not quite where we want to be yet. But look, I know Duke lost today to Rider. None of these games are gimmes. They had an unbelievable weekend against Wake Forest and they lost today to Rider. With all due respect to Rider, that’s what college baseball is. Anytime you can win in a foreign environment, especially like this, you’ll take it and you move onto the next game.”
In the home half of the first, Dylan Brewer led off with a single into left. He proceeded to steal second then advance to third on a ball in the dirt. And Ethan Petry drove him in with an RBI single.
On the mound, Eddie Copper made his fourth midweek start of the year and looked sharp early. Through the first two innings, he was already up to five strikeouts and retired the side in order in each frame.
But in the third, Georgia State would finally get to him as Henry Koehler hit a leadoff double down the left field line. After getting the first out, nine-hole hitter Taylor Shultz tied the game with an RBI double.
With the next batter, Copper gave up another double, his third of the inning, to give Georgia State a 2-1 lead.
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Other than that, Copper pitched good enough to give the Gamecocks a chance. The freshman right-hander went on to throw 4.2 innings of two-run ball with six strikeouts and one walk on 76 pitches.
Despite getting a good outing, South Carolina’s offense struggled to reciprocate. Coming into Tuesday, Georgia State starting pitcher Quin McManmon had a 15.00 ERA on the season. After giving up the RBI hit to Petry, he retired the next eight batters in order.
But in the fifth, the Panthers went to their bullpen and this move seemingly woke the bats up. Parker Noland led off with an opposite field double. Ryan Bakes followed suit with an RBI double into left to tie the game.
With one out in the sixth and a runner on first, Tyler Causey stayed hot with a go-ahead RBI triple down the right field line. Later in the inning, Causey slid headfirst into home plate to score on a wild pitch to extend the lead.
“It was a rough night at the plate for me, to be honest with you,” Causey said. “But Monte (Lee) put on a run and hit and got a heater that I could somewhat handle. Got jammed a little bit but ended up getting a run out of it and scored on a passed ball. So I’m just happy to get those two runs out of it.”
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After Matthew Becker pitched a harmless 1.1 innings, Roman Kimball came in to start the seventh. He gave up a leadoff walk, then a wild pitch to move the runner to second. He struck out the next batter he faced, but after just 12 pitches, his outing had come to an end.
“Now the good thing is I thought he did a better job of collecting himself with getting the big strikeout once the first guy got on. That’s stuff we can build on,” Kingston said. “He’s going to get a lot of big outs and pitch a lot of big innings for us.”
Wanting to preserve the lead, South Carolina called on Chris Veach to get the job done. He struck out the first batter he faced but gave up an RBI double to make it a one-run game. However, he bounced right back with another strikeout to prevent any further damage.
The Gamcocks turned to Garrett Gainey to start the eighth and he quickly struck out the first two batters. But a pair of singles put Georgia State in a position to tie the game with two outs. Gainey responded with a looking strikeout to end the threat, pumping his fist in the air as he came off the mound.
With a chance to nail down the save, Gainey retired the side in order to seal the deal and give the Gamecocks the win.
“That’s what he’s been for us all year,” Kingston said. “I mean, he’s been such a great addition to our pitching staff this year. Look, he got the last six outs of that ballgame in a one-run game. What more can you say?”
Kingston opted to use three of his better arms out of the bullpen in a midweek game that doesn’t hold much weight with SEC play starting this weekend. But to him, every game counts the same.
“Close games, you use your best guys. Every game matters,” Kingston said. “You go into certain games knowing if you’re getting a lead, then there’s certain guys you’re going to use and get work. If it’s a close game like it was tonight, you’ve got to let your guys be the guys.”
Up next: South Carolina will travel to Ole Miss (13-5) for the first SEC weekend series of the year. First pitch is at 7:30 p.m. on SEC Network Plus. Though not official, Eli Jones (2-0, 1.40 ERA) should get the start on the mound.
