USC keeps hope alive

The Gamecocks hold off the Vols to force a likely make-or-break finale

By SETH EMERSON - semerson@thestate.com

Nick Godwin said he felt surprisingly composed all day Friday, despite knowing he had USC’s postseason hopes resting on his right arm.

Well, composed may not be the right word.

“I was anxious. I was getting tired, with these 7 o’clock games you just sit around all day,” Godwin said. “I was just ready to get going.”

The Gamecocks needed a good and long outing from Godwin on Friday night, and they got it. With a 7-5 victory against Tennessee, the chances of South Carolina making the SEC tournament lingered for one more day.

USC (36-19, 14-15 SEC) will clinch a trip to Hoover, Ala., if it beats Tennessee today. Failing that, it will need either Mississippi or Arkansas to lose.

The game also could be the final at Sarge Frye Field unless the team lands an NCAA regional.

Godwin helped ensure that the Gamecocks still control their own destiny. The right-hander ended a run of less-than-quality SEC starts by pitching into the eighth inning and was charged with two earned runs and two unearned runs in the eighth inning.

“I’m a fifth-year senior. I don’t know about anybody else, but this is it for me if we don’t win a couple games,” Godwin said. “So I just tried to come out and do my job and give us another day.”

There was still some drama. Tennessee’s Josh Liles hit a three-run homer in the eighth inning to make it a two-run game, then the Vols brought the go-ahead run to the plate with two out in the ninth inning.

But USC reliever Alex Farotto came in for the final out, getting Tennessee’s Jarred Frazier to strike out looking on a 3-2 pitch.

USC’s Parker Bangs, starting for the first time in nine games, was on both sides of a homer. He hit one in the fifth inning, then went to the mound and gave up Liles’ shot in the eighth inning.

Bangs’ homer led off the fifth inning, when the Gamecocks eventually batted around and broke it open with five runs. After Bangs’ shot, the Gamecocks next four runs came with two outs.

It was a much different story than Thursday, when the Gamecocks looked listless during a 13-2 loss. Several players agreed there was a different attitude Friday.

“I think we picked it up a notch a little bit,” Bangs said. “It just felt a little more of an awkward position with our backs up against the wall today.”

The Gamecocks will be seeking to avoid its first losing regular-season SEC record since Ray Tanner’s first year in 1997. But the more important matter is getting into the SEC tournament.

“We’ve got two opportunities to go now, but the best thing to do is to come out and play well and win the game,” Tanner said. “We can control that part of it.”

Reach Emerson at (803) 771-8676.