South Carolina baseball: Gamecocks drop finale to Clemson

South Carolina baseball couldn’t complete the sweep.

South Carolina baseball entered a midweek matchup with Clemson looking to close out a sweep of their archrival. The Gamecocks had taken the two previous meetings in February, but poor hitting would lead to a 7-2 defeat in the finale.

The Gamecocks would threaten to score in each of the first three innings, having at least two runners on in each frame, but those baserunners would be stranded. All in all, the team left 13 runners on, and despite outhitting the Tigers, they’d score their only two runs on a pair of solo homers.

Wes Clarke started the scoring in the fifth, putting the Gamecocks up 1-0 with his 19th home run of the season. Unfortunately, two free passes and a throwing error would lead to two Tiger runners crossing the plate. Clemson took a 2-1 lead before recording a base hit. They’d add another unearned run to end the frame on a James Parker single, and entered the sixth with a 3-1 advantage.

It would be downhill from there for South Carolina, who played sloppily throughout, and the Tigers broke the game open with a three-run eighth inning that ballooned their lead to five, securing the 7-2 victory.

PJ Labriola would get the win for Clemson, while Daniel Lloyd would take the loss after allowing three runs (one earned) in 2.1 innings of work.

What’s it mean moving forward?

The Gamecocks have got to figure out their hitting struggles if they want to close the season strong. South Carolina has been held to three runs or less in six of their last 12 contests, all of which have been losses. The offense has been in a slump over the last three weeks of the season, and is now hitting just .250 as a team.

Strikeouts have been a major problem, with the Gamecocks ranking dead last in the SEC, whiffing 9.5 times per game. They added to that total last night with 12 K’s against the Tigers, which led to the stranding of 13 baserunners.

Postseason implications

Entering the game, South Carolina was projected as a two-seed in the East Carolina regional. While the Gamecocks shouldn’t slide off that seed line with the loss, they did miss an opportunity to pick up a win over a quality opponent (No. 52 RPI ).

Mark Kingston needs to right the ship this weekend in an SEC series at Kentucky. The team has dropped seven of their last nine conference matchups, and have been trending in the wrong direction since mid April.