South Carolina baseball: Gamecocks win game one over Virginia
By Jacob Elsey
South Carolina baseball defeats UVA.
The South Carolina baseball team took down third-seeded Virginia on Friday afternoon by a score of 4-3. The victory keeps the Gamecocks in the winner’s bracket, setting up a showdown at 7 PM tomorrow against the winner of tonight’s matchup between Old Dominion and Jacksonville. The Cavaliers fall to the loser’s bracket, and will play tomorrow afternoon in an elimination game.
South Carolina used some timely hitting in the second half of the game to knock starting pitcher Andrew Abbott out of the contest, forcing UVA to dig into their bullpen. Abbott, who’d not allowed an extra-base hit since late April, was shelled for back-to-back doubles in the sixth, an inning that saw the Gamecocks cross the plate three times. Entering the inning, Abbott had surrendered just one run on two hits over five innings of work.
Reliever Kyle Whitten couldn’t stop the bleeding, surrendering a walk followed by an RBI single from catcher Collin Burgess. The three-run inning would give South Carolina a lead they’d not relinquish with the bullpen tossing a scoreless seventh, eighth, and ninth.
South Carolina started the scoring in the first as slugger Wes Clarke smacked his NCAA leading 23rd home run of the year. The solo shot got the Gamecocks on the board, but Virginia would answer back with back-to-back long balls in the third to take a 2-1 lead. That’s where starting pitcher Brett Kerry’s day would end, as he left the game with tightness in his neck, and South Carolina was forced to turn to the pen early.
Julian Bosnic entered to get the final two outs of the third inning, and would toss 3.2 innings of one-run baseball. He’d eventually pick up the win, and did a great job of keeping the Gamecocks in the ball game.
Bosnic did run into some trouble in the fourth, seeing three Cavalier hitters reach base after recording the first two outs in the inning. Virginia would eventually score on an infield single to extend their lead to 3-1. The score would stay that way though the top of the sixth, but the Gamecocks turned the tables upside down in the bottom of the frame.
That sixth inning began with a leadoff walk, but it then saw the next two hitters go down in order. It looked as though South Carolina would scratch across a run in the next at bat from Wes Clarke, but a shot to left-center field bounced over the wall for a ground-rule double, stopping the runners at second and third.
Rather than strand the baserunners, as we’ve seen the Gamecocks do frequently in the past, Josiah Sightler launched a double to tie the game. South Carolina wasn’t done yet, though, and would end up taking the lead on Burgess’s single to left.
The Gamecocks turned to righty Daniel Lloyd for the game’s final three frames. Lloyd threw 3.1 innings of scoreless baseball, striking out four Virginia hitters to earn the save.
South Carolina now awaits the winner of tonight’s matchup between the Monarchs and Dolphins to see who they’ll take on in the nightcap tomorrow. First pitch is set for 7 PM.