Gamecocks blank Bulldogs to avoid series sweep
South Carolina already lost its eighth consecutive series earlier this weekend, but bounced back with a 10-0 victory on Saturday to ensure that none of the eight series losses would be a sweep.
Colby Lee, Colie Bowers, Tyler Johnson and Graham Lawson combined for a three-hit shutout as USC earned a win in its final game before the SEC Tournament.
The Gamecocks (32-23, 13-17) will begin play at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium on Tuesday at 10:30 a.m. against Vanderbilt.
“Our players showed a lot of pride for the uniform that they wear and the program that they’re a part of and played a great game today,” USC coach Chad Holbrook said. “It’s a do-or-die situation (in Hoover). We’ll go down there and see if we can get on a little bit of a hot streak, and you never know.”
South Carolina scored at least one run in each of its final six at-bats, putting up three runs in the third inning and three more in the sixth inning.
South Carolina pounded out 12 hits with Jonah Bride leading the way with a 3-for-5 afternoon and three runs scored.
Justin Row went 1-for-3 with a double and two RBIs, while Danny Blair and Carlos Cortes each had two hits, a double and an RBI.
“We haven’t had a game like this in the league maybe since the first week against Tennessee,” Holbrook said. “From the third inning to the eighth, we put at least a run on the board. It was good to see. We just had some more competitive at bats today.”
Lee, a freshman, got the Gamecocks off to a good start on the mound, allowing one hit in 3 2/3 innings of work.
He struck out two and left the game in the fourth inning with the bases loaded and two outs. Bowers, a senior, then came in to get the final out of the inning on a fly ball to center.
“He pitched well and threw strikes,” Holbrook said of Lee. “The ball was sinking and running. It was hard to square him up. He’s got a bright future when he controls the strike zone.”
Bowers held the Bulldogs to one hit in 2 2/3 innings before Johnson retired all five batters he faced in the seventh and eighth innings. The hard-throwing righty struck out three hitters.
Lawson allowed a hit in the ninth inning, but a double play ended the game.
“It was just a very complete game by our pitching staff,” Holbrook said.
Georgia | ab | r | h | rbi | bb | k |
Bradley rf | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Shepherd ss | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
Curry dh | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
McGovern lf | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Webb 3b | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Williams ph | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Talley 2b | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Proctor 2b | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Sasser 1b | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Moody cf | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Biggar c | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
TOTALS | 29 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 9 |
USC | ab | r | h | rbi | bb | k |
Tolbert ss | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Grosvenor ph | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Flint ss | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Cortes lf | 5 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Hogan 1b | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Jones c | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Taylor c | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Destino dh | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Bride 3b | 5 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Olson rf | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Blair cf | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Row 2b | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
TOTALS | 37 | 10 | 12 | 8 | 4 | 7 |
Georgia | 000 | 000 | 000 | — | 0 |
USC | 003 | 113 | 11x | — | 10 |
E — Talley 2(4); Proctor(9); Sasser(3). LOB — UGA 7; USC 8. 2B — Cortes(9); Hogan(6); Blair(2); Row(3). HBP — McGovern; Moody, L. SF — Tolbert(3). SB — Bride(3). CS — Hogan(1).
Georgia | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
Locey, L 2-4 | 2 2/3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 |
Brown | 2 1/3 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
Elliott | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
Glover | 1 1/3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
Shepard | 1/3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Avidano | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
Ryder | 1/3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
USC | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
Lee | 3 2/3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
Bowers, W 5-1 | 2 2/3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
Johnson | 1 2/3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
Lawson | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
WP — Locey(10); Brown, B. 3(11); Avidano(4). HBP — by Lee (McGovern); by Bowers (Moody, L.). PB — Biggar(14); Jones(4). Umpires — HP: Tony Walsh 1B: Myron Miller 2B: Michael Phillips 3B: Morris Hodges. T — 3:13 A — 7,915.
This story was originally published May 20, 2017 at 6:20 PM with the headline "Gamecocks blank Bulldogs to avoid series sweep."