South Carolina baseball: Gamecocks drop midweek matchup with UNC
By Jacob Elsey
South Carolina baseball’s two-game win streak ended last night.
No. 11 South Carolina played in what’s become an annual neutral site contest with border rival North Carolina last night, looking to build upon their big SEC series win from last weekend. Mark Kingston’s group had been winners of eight out of their previous nine matchups, but ran into a buzzsaw on the mound from Tar Heel pitching.
In what was an exciting pitching duel, South Carolina allowed a 10th inning run that broke a 2-2 tie. The Gamecocks had a chance to even things up in the bottom of the frame, but failed to plate a runner, resulting in a 3-2 extra inning loss.
Over those 10 innings, the Gamecocks managed just three hits while striking out eight times and leaving six men on base. One of those baserunners was stranded at third in the bottom of the ninth, with South Carolina threatening to win.
While the offense struggled, the South Carolina arms were effective. Freshman Jack Mahoney was tagged for four hits and a run in the top of the first, but threw three scoreless innings to follow, exiting the game in a 1-1 tie.
Relievers Daniel Lloyd, Andrew Peters, and Julian Bosnic combined for six strikeouts over the next six innings, allowing just two more Tar Heels to cross the plate, but that would prove to be enough for North Carolina to win the game.
While the Gamecocks did tag a couple of pitches here and there, it was frustrating to watch the approach against a Tar Heels pitching staff that entered the game with an ERA of 4.50. The lineup seemed over-anxious rather than being selective and working counts. South Carolina batters were hitless at the dish with runners on base, and 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position. That includes going 0-for-2 after a one-out double gave the Gamecocks a chance to walk it off in the bottom of the ninth inning.
With the loss, South Carolina falls to 19-8 on the season. They’ll get back to conference play this weekend with a home series versus SEC East foe Missouri.