Gamecocks’ strong pitching collapses late, bats quiet as Georgia finishes sweep
On a beautiful Saint Patrick’s Day at Founders Park, everything was clicking for South Carolina baseball — until it all fell apart in the ninth inning, sending the Gamecocks to a 4-2 loss to Georgia that completed the Bulldogs’ sweep.
“Sometimes baseball can be a cruel game. Today was one of those days for us,” coach Mark Kingston said. “We gotta wear it, we gotta learn from it, just like we did last year.”
Leading 1-0 heading into the final frame, USC (14-6, 0-3 SEC) sent freshman reliever Brett Kerry, who had been dominant through four innings, back out. Georgia sneaked a leadoff double down the left-field line, then tied the game with an RBI single to right field. Another single put runners on the corners before Kerry was pulled for junior closer Sawyer Bridges.
Bulldog junior Tucker Maxwell then tried to lay down a safety squeeze bunt that died in front of home plate. However, it was called foul by the home plate umpire, and Maxwell took advantage of his second chance, blasting a three-run home run just inside of the right-field foul pole to provide UGA (18-2, 3-0 SEC) the game-winning runs.
“They didn’t think he was gonna hit a three-run homer, that’s why they were gonna try to safety,” Kingston said. “Just one of those flukey things. It was a bad pitch, I’m sure (Bridges) wishes he had it back.”
Carolina got one run back in the bottom of the ninth thanks to a one-out home run from senior third baseman Jacob Olson, but it wasn’t enough to stave off USC’s first time being swept at home since 2013.
The defeat wasted a solid outing on the mound from sophomore starter TJ Shook, who bounced back from a shaky start in which he loaded the bases with no outs in the first with two walks and a hit batter to record six strikeouts, one hit and no runs in four innings.
“It was definitely interesting. Probably not the way you want to start a game, especially a game as big as this. But I’m just very lucky I got out of it. ... (Pitching coach Skylar Meade) was just saying all right, let’s go, let’s attack, let’s get in the zone,” Shook said.
Before his ninth inning collapse, Kerry was also strong, striking out four, walking one and allowing no hits in four innings.
“We had them shut out on one or two hits going into the ninth inning. They all deserved a better fate,” Kingston said of his pitching. “That entire team deserved a better fate. But again, sometimes baseball is very cruel, and you have to be able to fight back from it.”
The Gamecocks appeared to get the only run they’d need in the bottom of the fifth. After they loaded the bases with no outs with a single, error and walk, junior shortstop George Callil lifted a shallow flyout to right field, and the runner at third, senior first baseman Chris Cullen, was gunned down at home plate trying to tag up for the double play.
But then junior second baseman Quinntin Perez, only in the lineup because usual starter Noah Campbell was nursing a minor shoulder injury, came up big with an RBI single to center that scored freshman left fielder Brady Allen.
“It was just good to finally come up and get a hit in the right situation,” Perez, who is hitting .219 on the year with three RBIs, said.
Next: South Carolina travels to Greenville on Tuesday to face Furman at 6 p.m.
Softball: The Gamecocks defeated Arkansas, 9-6, for their first SEC win of the year, improving to 21-7 overall.
This story was originally published March 17, 2019 at 4:28 PM.
