South Carolina baseball: Gamecocks take series over Missouri

The South Carolina baseball team earned its 3rd straight series win.

Mark Kingston and the South Carolina baseball team overcame a second consecutive Friday night loss and battled back to win its third straight SEC series over the weekend as they hosted eastern division rival Missouri. The performance catapulted the Gamecocks into a tie for fourth place in the conference, and they now sit just a single game behind league leaders Vanderbilt, Arkansas, and Tennessee.

The Gamecock bats came alive over the weekend’s final two contests, posting run totals of 11 and 13 on Saturday and Sunday. The team improved to 15-2 on the season at Founders Park, and 21-9 overall.

South Carolina played “pretty poorly” in Friday night’s opener, in the words of their head coach. Right hander Thomas Farr struggled for a second straight start, allowing three runs over five innings. While he struck out nine Tiger batters, and only surrendered four base hits, his command was off as evidenced by his season-high five walks. Farr also plunked a batter, driving his free pass count to six on the day.

The Gamecocks actually jumped out to an early 2-0 lead on a Brady Allen RBI single and a wild pitch, but Missouri put up crooked numbers in the fifth and sixth frames to take a 6-2 lead late in the game. They’d tack on one more eighth to cruise to an easy 7-2 series opening victory.

Saturday’s game was a great response for the Gamecocks, as Brannon Jordan and the South Carolina pitching staff held the Tigers to just one run. Missouri scored on a fourth inning wild pitch, but the bats were held scoreless in the game’s other eight frames. Jordan struck out eight hitters in five innings to earn the win, while reliever Daniel Lloyd threw four scoreless frames to get the save.

On offense, Brady Allen was the hero, knocking in four runs on the day. His lone hit was a three-run homer to bump his total to nine for the season. The first four hitters in the Gamecock lineup went a combined 5-for-16 with seven RBIs.

Sunday was more of the same, as the bats stayed hot against Tiger pitching. South Carolina tallied 13 runs on 13 hits, two of which left the ballpark. Allen, again, led the Gamecocks with three hits, while Andrew Eyster and David Mendham racked up three RBIs a piece.

Starter Will Sanders threw four innings, striking out six. Brett Kerry earned the win in relief, his third on the season. Gamecock pitching sat down 15 Missouri hitters on strikes, pushing their season total to 349 this year. That mark ranks third in the nation.

PLAYERS OF THE WEEKEND

Brady Allen

Allen had a huge weekend, recording hits in each of the three contests. For the series, the centerfielder went 6-for-14 at the dish, knocking six runs, stealing two bases, and adding to his team-leading .320 batting average.

Collin Burgess

The Gamecock backstop tallied a hit and a run in each game, going 4-for-11 with two RBIs on the weekend. Burgess has been stellar behind the plate all season, and his hitting continues to improve with each contest.

George Callil

The Gamecock shortstop reached base seven times over the weekend, tallying a couple hits, five walks, and three runs scored. While Callil is hitting just .200 in SEC play on the year, he ranks second on the team with an on-base percentage of .383.

ON DECK

South Carolina travels to Baton Rouge this coming weekend to take on LSU, with the series running from Thursday to Saturday. The Tigers are 20-12 this year, including a 3-9 mark in conference play. The Gamecocks also host Charleston Southern in a midweek matchup on Tuesday.