South Carolina’s pitching struggles again as Georgia takes game two, series
South Carolina baseball entered the weekend on bubble watch.
The Gamecocks (33-17, 13-13 SEC) played themselves into this position, where every game feels massive and every result seems like a reflection of your fortunes.
As of Wednesday, D1 Baseball slotted South Carolina as the 16th seed in the NCAA College Baseball Tournament. For reference: Only the top 16 national seeds get to host their regional.
The Gamecocks had little margin for error — which is why the USC’s series against Georgia felt so consequential. And how did South Carolina answer the bell? With back-to-back losses.
After losing by four in a slugfest on Thursday night, the Gamecocks were fell 11-5 to the Bulldogs on Friday night.
USC starter Eli Jones went just three innings, giving up seven earned runs and a three-run bomb to junior Slate Alford, who blasted it off the green batter’s eye in center.
“He’s just not as good right now as he was earlier in the season,” head coach Mark Kingston said, “and we need him to be.”
If that wasn’t enough of a gut punch, Georgia’s Tre Phelps hit a three-run dinger off reliever Connor McCreery that plunked off almost the same spot of the batter’s eye.
Think about this: In the first 13 innings Georgia (37-12, 15-11 SEC) played in Columbia, the Bulldogs mashed seven long balls and scored 24 runs.
“Obviously we fell behind early and that allowed them to control the game after that,” said Kingston.
The pitching concerns that have loomed over South Carolina all season — at times feeling both unwarranted and other times completely valid — showed themselves on Thursday and Friday.
The two South Carolina starters — Roman Kimball and Jones — lasted a combined 3.1 innings, gave up a dozen hits and 11 earned runs. It is really hard to win baseball games, especially in the SEC, when your starting pitchers are putting you in 6-foot holes from the get-go.
“We have to pitch better,” Kingston said. “That’s obvious.”
On Thursday night, after Kimball’s incredibly short performance, Kingston admitted he and his staff are going to have to start getting creative. For the past few weeks, that’s included not announcing a Sunday starter until the day of, waiting to see how games play out and which pitchers were used.
But, perhaps, it leads to major changes.
Earlier last week, Kingston floated the idea that reliever Garrett Gainey (3.00 ERA), who started in high school and sparingly in three years at Winthrop, could possibly be used as a starter in the future. Perhaps Ty Good, who allowed four runs in four innings on Thursday, gets another opportunity to start.
Aside from that, there’s just not many places to turn.
Matthew Becker, who entered the year as a possible starter, has allowed 14 runs in his last 7.2 innings of work. Dylan Eskew started last Sunday and surrendered four runs in just over an inning of work.
The South Carolina offense has been asked to carry so much weight for this team — and has come through the past few weeks. Over the past two weeks (10 games), the Gamecocks have scored 96 runs (9.6 runs per game) and still gone just 6-4.
South Carolina desperately needs to avoid a sweep on Sunday, ideally with an above-average performance from it’s pitching staff and whoever gets the nod as a starter. Before one can be concerned over the Gamecocks’ chances to host a regional, one has to be concerned over the flaws of the actual team.
“This team will bounce back,” Kingston said. “It always does.”
SOUTH CAROLINA BASEBALL THIS WEEK
Saturday: vs. Georgia, 2 pm (SEC Network Plus)
