This weekend was another tough weekend for South Carolina baseball. Injuries have decimated this ball club in recent weeks, and the health issues are catching up to the Gamecocks. Will McGillis has been out for over a month, and his absence has been compounded as fellow infielders Talmadge LeCroy and Braylen Wimmer have missed time over the last two weekend series. To make matters worse, the Gamecocks’ best starting pitcher this year Noah Hall has been out almost as long as McGillis and doesn’t have a timetable for his return. Eli Jerzembeck also left game 3 of the Kentucky series with an arm issue.
The SEC baseball schedule is unforgiving, and the past two weekends proved it. After facing three top-5 programs in a row in LSU, Vanderbilt, and Florida, the Gamecocks were entering a “lighter” portion of the schedule against unranked Auburn and a Kentucky team that had lost seven of eight games. They exit the two-week stretch with two series losses.
South Carolina fans can blame lots of factors on their team’s lack of success the last two weekends. As mentioned previously, the injuries (also resulting in several players playing out of position) are toward the top of the list, but the Gamecocks haven’t played their best ball of late. This is especially true when speaking of the pitching staff. A unit that was among the top-10 in baseball just a few short weeks ago has given up 54 runs in their last six SEC games. Frankly, that isn’t nearly good enough.
In the series against Kentucky this weekend, the pitching woes started early.
Friday night starter Will Sanders wasn’t awful, but he allowed two runs through the first two innings, primarily on self-inflicted errors such as walks, hit by pitches, and passed balls/wild pitches. Sometimes-starter, sometimes-reliever Eli Jones had been really good on the season but struggled in relief in game 1, unable to limit the damage after an error. Despite a slump-busting home run from Gavin Casas, the Gamecocks fell 7-3.
Game 2 was worse for the pitchers as Jack Mahoney surrendered five runs in four innings, and James Hicks continued struggling, giving up a whopping seven runs in three innings of relief. Casas’ resurgence continued as he had three hits, including two big home runs, and Cole Messina had two doubles, but the middle of the order production was not enough as the Gamecocks dropped game 2 in ugly fashion 14-7.
Game 3 starter Matthew Becker gave up two runs in the first inning after several self-inflicted wounds (HBP, balk, walk, failed pickoff, error), but he settled in after the rocky frame but gave up another run later after he made an additional error. After reliever Eli Jerzembeck left with an injury, the ‘pen surrendered four more. A handful of good at bats from Carson Hornung and Michael Braswell and a Dylan Brewer home run were about all the offense could muster as the Gamecocks were beaten again, this time 9-2.
The defense was a problem again against the Wildcats. In game 1, a costly error resulted in two runs, and defensive issue battling the sun in the outfield resulted in the world’s easiest inside-the-park homerun. Less-than-crisp bunt coverage and some poor catching work hurt the Gamecocks, as well. Game 2 saw the Gamecocks make no errors, but two different double plays were thwarted by bobbled balls. The series finale on Sunday contained three Gamecock errors, and all three resulted in runs for Kentucky.
The vibes are not nearly as positive around the program as they were several weeks ago, but all is not lost for the Gamecocks baseball team. With a great finish, a top-8 seed is still in play, and a regional hosting spot should belong to the Gamecocks even with the sweep at the hands of the Wildcats.
Next week, South Carolina will look to get back on track when they return home for a mid-week contest against North Florida before hitting the road again to take on the highly-ranked Arkansas Razorbacks in Fayetteville. The North Florida game will be on Tuesday at 4:00 on the SECNetwork+. Friday’s Arkansas opener will be at 7:30, Saturday’s game 2 will be at 7:00, and Sunday’s finale will be at 3:00. All three games are set to be on the SECNetwork+.