Out of steam: LSU ends USC’s run in Hoover

South Carolina ran out of gas and pitching Saturday afternoon in the SEC Tournament, falling 11-0 to LSU in seven innings in a semifinal game that ends the Gamecocks’ stay in Hoover and possibly their season.

It’s now a waiting game for USC (35-25) to find out if it will advance to the NCAA Tournament, or if the Gamecocks will miss the postseason for the second time in three years.

“We knew it was going to be a tall order today,” USC coach Chad Holbrook said. “LSU is a terrific team playing at a high level, maybe one of the best two or three teams in the country. … They’re awfully hot right now.”

USC won three games in the SEC Tournament, entered Saturday with an RPI of 31 and with the loss falls to 16-19 against conference teams. The Gamecocks are believed to be on the bubble heading into the NCAA Tournament announcement show, which is noon Monday on ESPN2.

“There’s going to be some anxious moments, but I think our numbers will speak for themselves compared to other bubble teams,” Holbrook said.

Freshman Colby Lee gave up a pair of homers in the first inning Saturday as the Tigers (42-17) took a 3-0 lead and never looked back. LSU added two runs in the second inning and six in the third to lead 11-0 after three.

The Gamecocks didn’t have weekend starters Wil Crowe or Adam Hill available and were also without top bullpen arms Tyler Johnson, Josh Reagan and Reed Scott.

“That (leadoff homer) got some momentum in their dugout, and we weren’t able to recover. They just ambushed us a little bit offensively there,” Holbrook said. “They’re a great team playing at a high level, and we just didn’t have enough to combat them today for a number of different reasons.”

The back end of USC’s pitching staff was no match for an LSU lineup that has scored 10 runs or more in five consecutive games. The Tigers have won 11 consecutive games against SEC teams.

LSU had weekend starter Jared Poche (10-3) on the mound. The senior lefty needs two more victories to become the Tigers’ all-time wins leaders.

South Carolina’s offense came up empty against Poche and reliever Todd Peterson, finishing with three hits and was shutout for the third time this season.

USC had a couple of opportunities to score, but stranded seven runners. It had the bases loaded with two outs in the fourth inning when Poche threw a pitch to the backstop, but the ball bounced right back to catcher Michael Papierski, whose throw to home beat Jonah Bride to the plate.

“I’m confident in any of our guys that take the mound, but we knew we had a tall order with Poche on the mound, one of the best guys in the country,” Gamecocks junior Alex Destino said. “We knew we were going to have to support the pitching staff with some offense and that wasn’t the case today.”

USC was able to hold LSU’s offense in check for the final four innings with Colie Bowers allowing one run in two innings, Graham Lawson keeping the Tigers off the board in the fifth and Brandon Murray throwing a pair of perfect frames.

“We were going to try to keep the game close and get to the fifth or sixth inning and have a chance, but they’re swinging it at such a high level right now they didn’t give us that opportunity,” Holbrook said. “Brandon kind of held them at bay a little bit and that was encouraging to see. Brandon Murray hasn’t pitched in a long time and he got six outs in a row. That was a special moment for Brandon, but we knew if we were going to win this game it was going to have to be 9-7 or something.”

This story was originally published May 27, 2017 at 3:21 PM with the headline "Out of steam: LSU ends USC’s run in Hoover."