Kyle Martin’s homer spurs USC in opener vs. Texas A&M

Kyle Martin had been stymied for three straight at bats with runners on base, once because he was intentionally walked, but the Gamecocks’ offensive star made no mistake in the ninth when Texas A&M had nowhere to put him.

Martin stroked his 12th homer, a two-run shot to right-center field, to help give South Carolina a 9-7 victory against No. 3 Texas A&M on Friday in the opener of a three-game series at Blue Bell Park. The win also gave a lift to the Gamecocks’ dimming postseason hopes.

“I got down 0-2 real quick. At that point I was just trying to fight and get on any way possible,” Martin said. “He ended up leaving a fastball right over the plate and I put a good swing on it.”

Later in the inning, Clark Scolamiero singled home Elliott Caldwell, who chased A&M’s closer Mark Ecker with a single after Martin’s homer. The Gamecocks needed the cushion as A&M threatened with a Ryne Birk single and Mitchell Na’s RBI double in the ninth.

Reed Scott came in to get the save for Jack Wynkoop (8-4), who wasn’t as sharp as he’d been lately but battled for eight innings. Scott struck out Hunter Melton, who had homered earlier, with Nau on second.

“We got some big hits when we had guys out there,” coach Chad Holbrook said. “(Kyle Martin) had a big swing of the bat. Clark made it a lot more comfortable, it wasn’t comfortable in the ninth, (but) that was a big third run there. It was a good team win for us. Jack pitched very well against them, they are very good. Reed showed a lot of poise there to get the last couple of outs.”

The Gamecocks (29-21, 11-14 SEC) also got some unexpected punch from Marcus Mooney, who clubbed his first homer of the season – a three-run shot to left field that likely was aided by the wind. Mooney nearly matched his season total of RBIs with the one swing. The shortstop who has been nursing a hamstring injury has eight RBIs.

Texas A&M (41-8, 16-8), fresh off a sweep at Tennessee, dropped out of first place in the SEC West.

A&M’s Mitchell Nau matched Mooney’s three-run homer in the seventh after Michael Barash opened with a single and Blake Allemand followed with an infield single up the middle. Nau, the reigning SEC Player of the Week, took an inside pitch and drove it over the left-field fence.

South Carolina played small ball and got a lot of help from the Aggies in getting on the board in the third, then squaring the game at 3-all in the fifth.

Logan Koch opened with a seven-pitch walk and moved to second when Aggies second baseman dropped the throw at first base on Marcus Mooney’s sacrifice bunt.

Gene Cone advanced both runners with a sacrifice bunt, and Koch scored on a groundout to shortstop Blake Allemand. Kyle Martin was intentionally walked, and the strategy paid off with Elliott Campbell hitting a harmless fly ball to right field after fouling off four pitches.

The Gamecocks again were beneficiaries of shoddy Aggie defense in the fifth inning. Cone walked with one out, and made it home when third baseman Ronnie Gideon’s throw on Max Schrock’s sacrifice bunt went into right field.

Schrock moved up to second with no one there to cover, and when the Aggies took their time getting the ball back in, third base coach Sammy Esposito waved home Cone, who beat the throw but made sure by sliding around catcher Michael Barash.

Schrock scored on Elliott Caldwell single down the line that got past Gideon when he moved to cover the base.

By the fifth inning, South Carolina had four sacrifice hits – one more than it had all year.

The Aggies had taken leads in the second and fourth on Gideon’s two-run double and Hunter Melton’s fifth home run.

Mooney also starred in the field, short-hopping a sharply hit ball in the eighth to keep Barash from scoring after he had reached on a ball Scolameiro lost in the lights. Scolameiro was in for Connor Bright, who hurt his arm on a swing in the fourth.

“We played hard and we competed,” Holbrook said. “We put some pressure on them with our bunt game and short game. We stole some bags. They are a great team. There is a reason they are 41-8, not many people have beat them this year. They are probably one of the best teams in the country, if not the best and we matched them.”

This story was originally published May 8, 2015 at 11:16 PM with the headline "Kyle Martin’s homer spurs USC in opener vs. Texas A&M."