South Carolina baseball: Gamecocks take weekend series over Georgia
By Jacob Elsey
South Carolina baseball won its 1st series over UGA since 2013.
The South Carolina baseball team travelled to Athens over the weekend to take on SEC rival Georgia in a three-game conference series. Foley Field has been an unfriendly venue to the Gamecocks, who’d lost nine of their last 12 contests in the setting.
After dropping Friday night’s opener, a seventh consecutive loss to the Bulldogs, South Carolina rallied to win both Saturday and Sunday’s matchups en rout to a hard fought series victory. Mark Kingston’s group improved to 19-7 on the season, with a 6-3 mark in SEC play. It was encouraging to see the team play tough on the road, after having lost back-to-back series against Vanderbilt and Texas away from Founders Park earlier in the year.
Friday’s game was a pitcher’s duel, as seems to be the case in most of the Gamecocks’ series openers. South Carolina starter Thomas Farr allowed two runs in his 5.2 innings of work, striking out seven Bulldog batters and positioning himself to get a win. A three-run homer by David Mendham gave the Gamecocks an early lead, but Georgia torched the South Carolina bullpen for four runs over the last three innings of the game to escape with a 5-3 victory. Andrew Peters picked up the loss, while Georgia’s Michael Polk picked up his first win on the year.
The Gamecocks bounced back on Saturday, jumping out to an 8-1 lead over the first six and a half frames on their way to a 13-7 victory. George Callil, Andrew Eyester, and Josiah Sightler each homered to get the Gamecocks on top early, but a five run seventh inning from the Bulldogs put the decision in jeopardy. Luckily, South Carolina crossed the plate five times in the last two frames to secure the win and even the series at a game a piece.
Sunday’s rubber match saw freshman right hander Will Sanders throw eight innings of one-run ball to pick up his fifth win of the season. Sanders was efficient, striking out four, not surrendering a walk, and throwing just 90 pitches on the day. Julian Bosnic cleaned up the ninth inning to secure the save. Sanders got some offensive help from Brady Allen, who homered twice on the day, and drove in three of the Gamecocks’ five runs. Catcher Colin Burgess knocked in the other two RBIs, helping the team cruise to a series victory.
PLAYERS OF THE GAME
Will Sanders
Sanders had the pitching performance of the weekend, picking up the win in Sunday’s rubber match after eight fantastic innings of work. The win seems to have secured his place as the third starter in the rotation, and he now leads the team with five wins on the year.
Brady Allen
Allen led the Gamecocks on offense, mashing two long balls and knocking in five RBIs in the three-game set. The centerfielder went 4-for-14 at the plate, and is now hitting .306 on the season.
George Callil
Callil has seemingly come out of a slump that lasted the first month and a half of the season. Entering the weekend with a .210 average, the senior shortstop went 4-for-10 at the dish, hitting his second homer of the year and scoring three runs in the series. He’s now recorded a hit in each of his last five games, boosting his season batting average to .233 on the year.
ON DECK
The 11th-ranked Gamecocks will travel to Charlotte this Tuesday to take on border rival North Carolina in a midweek contest before hosting Missouri in a three-game conference series.