South Carolina Baseball: Gamecocks suffer setback against Auburn

South Carolina baseball beat Florida in dominant fashion last weekend, sweeping the Gators at Founders Park. There was no mid-week contest for the Gamecocks, so there was no Carolina baseball from Saturday afternoon (after the last game of the Florida series) until Friday evening. The layoff seemed to have caused problems for the Gamecocks as their three-game series against Auburn was a major disappointment.

1st inning scoring became a theme over the weekend for Auburn as they started the series off with a run on a steal of home to take their first lead. The Gamecocks answered in the bottom half, but the middle innings strongly favored the Tigers as starter Will Sanders gave up seven more runs (eight total) as he just didn’t miss enough bats. The offense didn’t do enough with runners on base as the home Gamecocks only scored three runs despite notching nine hits and drawing seven walks. Auburn took game 1 by a score of 8-3.

The second matchup got off to an even worse start as the Auburn offense plated four runs in the 1st and another two in the 2nd. Starter Jack Mahoney has been very good in 2023, but he didn’t have his best stuff Saturday. The right-hander surrendered seven runs (five earned) and eight baserunners in just over three innings of work. The early deficit was too much to overcome as the Gamecocks fell 9-5 to drop the series.

Game 3 saw the Tigers score four more runs in the top of the 1st off of starting pitcher Matthew Becker. The Chapin native settled in, though, only allowing one more run through his next four innings pitched, including eight strikeouts. The offense battled back, and it looked like the YardCocks retook the lead on a Gavin Casas 3-run bomb, but it drifted just foul. Two missed pitch clock violations against Auburn (one resulting in a Mark Kingston ejection), Will Tippet’s first career home run, and a 9th inning scare later, South Carolina came out on top 8-7 to salvage a little something from an otherwise disappointing weekend.

For the weekend, despite the letdown that comes with a series loss, there were some positives. Though situational hitting was lacking at times, the overall offensive numbers were pretty good for the Gamecocks. Cole Messina had a good few days at the plate and held his own at 3B, a position he hadn’t played all season. Caleb Denny broke out of his long cold spell, getting on base nine times in the three game set. The struggling Will Tippet also got on base four times and swatted his first home run, the game winner in the finale.

The momentum built up from the Florida sweep seems all but gone at this point, but avoiding the sweep against Auburn was a big deal and should keep Gamecock fans from panicking. South Carolina baseball remains in great position to be a regional host and could still be a top-8 national seed. The Gamecocks will look to get back on track as they take on Winthrop in Rock Hill on Wednesday and then travel to Lexington, Kentucky for a three-gamer with the Wildcats on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.