LSU rallies to upend Gamecocks

HOOVER, ALA. — Four days after making the SEC baseball tournament on a game-winning homer, South Carolina started the event by losing on one.

One out from victory, the Gamecocks fell 5-4 to LSU on Wednesday in the first round on Blake Dean’s solo homer in the bottom of the 10th inning.

LSU’s Matt Clark hit a three-run homer in the bottom of the ninth to make it a one-run game, then the Tigers tied it on a bloop double that barely hit inside the left-field line.

USC wasted a great pitching performance by starter Sam Dyson; the redshirt freshman held LSU to two hits over 6ð innings.

The Gamecocks will face the loser of the Vanderbilt-Florida game at 11 a.m. Thursday.

— Seth Emerson

SOUTH CAROLINA (37-20)
Player ............................ AB R H RBI BB SO
Reese Havens ss.......... 4 0 1 1 0 3
Whit Merrifield cf........... 3 1 1 0 1 0
Justin Smoak 1b............ 2 0 0 0 3 0
James Darnell 3b.......... 4 1 1 0 1 0
Phil Disher c................. 3 1 1 1 2 2
Adam Crisp pr.............. 0 0 0 0 0 0
Kyle Enders c............... 0 0 0 0 0 0
Andrew Crisp lf............ 4 0 1 0 0 3
Harley Lail rf................ 5 0 1 2 0 3
DeAngelo Mack dh........ 4 1 0 0 1 1
Scott Wingo 2b............. 1 0 0 0 2 1
Sam Dyson p............... 0 0 0 0 0 0
Will Atwood p............... 0 0 0 0 0 0
Brandon Todd p........... 0 0 0 0 0 0
Alex Farotto p.............. 0 0 0 0 0 0
Totals ...................... 30 4 6 4 10 13

LSU (40-17-1)
Player ............................. AB R H RBI BB SO
Michael Hollander 3b..... 5 0 0 0 0 2
Jared Mitchell lf/cf......... 4 0 0 0 0 3
Blake Dean dh.............. 3 2 1 1 2 0
Micah Gibbs c................ 3 1 1 0 1 0
Derek Helenihi rf........... 4 0 0 0 0 2
Matt Clark 1b................ 4 1 1 3 0 0
DJ LeMahieu ss.............. 3 1 1 0 1 1
Leon Landry cf............... 2 0 0 0 0 1
Nicholas Pontiff ph/lf....... 2 0 0 0 0 1
Johnny Dishon lf............. 0 0 0 0 0 0
Ryan Schimpf 2b............ 2 0 1 1 2 0
Ryan Verdugo p............. 0 0 0 0 0 0
Paul Bertuccini p............ 0 0 0 0 0 0
Louis Coleman p............ 0 0 0 0 0 0
Jared Bradford p........... 0 0 0 0 0 0
Totals........................... 32 5 5 5 6 10

Score by innings ------------------------ R H E
South Carolina ..... 000..102..001..0 -- 4..6..0
LSU .......................... 000..000..004..1 -- 5..5..0

DP - SC 1; LSU 1. LOB - SC 10; LSU 6. 2B - Merrifield; Schimpf. 3B - LeMahieu. HR - Disher; Dean; Clark. HBP - Mitchell. SH - Havens; Merrifield; Crisp, D.; Wingo. SB - Schimpf. CS - Crisp, D..

SOUTH CAROLINA . IP H R ER BB SO
Sam Dyson.............. 6.2 2 0 0 3 6
Will Atwood............. 1.2 1 3 3 2 2
Brandon Todd......... 0.2 1 1 1 1 1
Alex Farotto............ 0.1 1 1 1 0 1

LSU ....................... IP H R ER BB SO
Ryan Verdugo........ 6.0 4 3 3 5 10
Paul Bertuccini....... 1.1 0 0 0 2 1
Louis Coleman....... 1.2 2 1 1 2 2
Jared Bradford...... 1.0 0 0 0 1 0

Win - Bradford (10-4). Loss - Farotto (0-1). Save - None. HBP - by Dyson (Mitchell). Pitches/strikes: Dyson 124/79; Atwood 27/16; Todd 26/18; Farotto 7/4; Verdugo 99/59; Bertuccini 24/10; Coleman 37/21; Bradford 12/7. Umpires - HP: Dennis McComb 1B: A.J. Lostaglio 2B: Paul Guillie 3B: Ken Couch Start: 10:10 am Time: 3:25