Another missed chance: Auburn win series vs. USC for first time since 1997

The South Carolina baseball team had not lost a series to Auburn since the 1997 season, the first such under former coach and current athletics director Ray Tanner.

But the Tigers stopped that series winning streak at 14 with Sunday’s 3-0 victory at Carolina Stadium.

The Gamecocks won the first game of the series 10-1 before dropping the next two, as they managed two runs on eight hits over the final 18 innings.

“We haven’t been able to sustain momentum, really, all year,” USC coach Chad Holbrook said. “After you get off to a great start on Friday, you’d think you have a little momentum going into the weekend and could muster a little more offense than what we mustered up. Their pitchers stymied our momentum.”

Auburn first baseman Daniel Robert, who had three hits in the game, had no idea the Tigers had not won a series against USC in 18 years.

“Obviously, they’ve had a great club in the past, and it’s a tough place to play no matter what kind of year is going on,” Robert said. “It’s a good feeling, but we’re trying to get rid of the limitations around Auburn baseball and trying to improve to get this program back on track.”

USC, which has won only two of eight SEC series this season, fell to 27-21 overall and 10-14 in the conference, while Auburn improved to 32-17 and 12-12. The Gamecocks play host to Wofford on Wednesday at 7 p.m.

South Carolina had won 10 of the past 11 games in the series against the Tigers dating back to 2011. The Gamecocks managed three singles off three Auburn pitchers, and only one came after the third inning. The top five hitters combined to go 0-for-17.

“They’re trying their tails off. It’s frustrating for them, too,” Holbrook said. “Sometimes, hitting is contagious, and it goes both ways.”

USC third baseman DC Arendas, who drew two walks on the day, understands the hitters, who are batting .250 as a team, aren’t sustaining any success.

“Friday night, we played well in three facets of thee game. Saturday and Sunday, Auburn played better than we did,” Arendas said. “We didn’t do enough offensively today to help (USC starter) Clarke (Schmidt) out. Clarke gave us a great effort and kept us in the game.”

Auburn scored first in the fifth inning off Schmidt (2-1), who gave up a leadoff double to Blake Logan. It appeared as if left-fielder Clark Scolamiero would catch the ball, but it bounced off his glove. After a one-out single, Logan scored on a sacrifice fly by Damon Haecker.

The Tigers added two more runs in the sixth inning to knock out Schmidt, who allowed 10 hits and struck out six in his stint. Kyler Deese delivered the big blow with a two-run double. Schmidt said the pitchers can’t worry about the team’s offensive woes.

“Some days, you’re going to have it on the offensive side. Some days, you’re not,” Schmidt said. “My job is to go out there and hold them to the least runs I can and keep my team in it. That’s all the pitchers are thinking every time we go out there. You’ve got to go out there and compete no matter what.”

Auburn right-hander Justin Camp (2-0) pitched 31/3 hitless innings in relief to get the win. Right-hander Trey Wingenter pitched the ninth for his fourth save.

“We knew this was a big series for us – a turning point to get us over the top,” Camp said. “We knew we had to come in and win it. That’s how we approached it.”

Holbrook hopes his team can return to the win column Wednesday before playing the final two SEC series against No. 3 Texas A&M and No. 1 LSU.

“That task is a tall one,” he said.

With eight games remaining, the Gamecocks know their chances of reaching the NCAA Tournament for a 16th straight season are in serious peril. Holbrook wants his players to keep battling.

“We’ve got to try to keep our kids’ morale high and fight to the end,” he said. “Maybe we can catch a few breaks here or there.”

This story was originally published May 3, 2015 at 5:00 PM with the headline "Another missed chance: Auburn win series vs. USC for first time since 1997."