South Carolina salvages series, snaps losing streak with Sunday win over Vanderbilt

The Gamecocks needed that one.

South Carolina’s No. 16 baseball team defeated No. 2 Vanderbilt 6-5 in the series finale Sunday, salvaging a game in the Gamecocks’ first conference series of the season.

“This was a big win,” coach Mark Kingston said. “They say all wins are equal, but I think that’s not true. Today was a big win for us, especially coming off (Saturday). And especially falling behind early, it looked like it wasn’t going to be our day again. This team kept fighting and battling and found a way to win.”

Sunday’s win was of the come-from-behind variety. South Carolina scored twice in the top of the eighth inning to take the 6-5 lead.

The top of the USC order — Brady Allen and Braylen Wimmer — each had three hits and a home run. Two of those hits came in the eighth inning, where Wes Clarke and Andrew Eyster recorded sacrifice flies for RBI.

Brett Kerry (2-0) struck out 10 batters in an extended outing for the team’s closer (5.2 innings, three hits, no walks, no earned runs). He relieved starter Julian Bosnic, who allowed five earned runs and four hits over 3 1/3 innings, while striking out six.

“It’s huge. We obviously wanted to win the series,” Kerry said. “That didn’t happen. We’re definitely glad to take this one and get momentum going into the weekend.”

Vanderbilt won the first two games of the series, 3-2 Friday and then a no-hitter Saturday 5-0.

It has been a tale of two streaks this season for USC (12-6). The Gamecocks started 2021 a perfect 11-0 before losing six straight — a stretch in which USC scored 12 total runs and was shut out twice. Snapping the skid gives the team some good vibes as it returns to Columbia for a five-game homestand.

The home runs from Allen and Wimmer both came to lead off the fourth inning.

“The pitchers having been doing their jobs all season,” Allen said. “Just to prove that we have the pitchers’ back, it’s good for the momentum moving forward.”

Upcoming South Carolina baseball schedule

The Gamecocks open a five-game homestand this week.

• Where: Founders Park in Columbia
• First up: vs. The Citadel, 7 pm Tuesday (SEC Network Plus)
• Then SEC play: vs. Florida, 7 pm Friday (SEC Network Plus), 4 pm Saturday (SEC Network Plus), noon Sunday (SEC Network)
• Finally: vs. Gardner-Webb, 7 p.m. March 30 (SEC Network Plus)

New baseball Top 25

Vanderbilt moved up to No. 1 in the weekly D1Baseball Top 25. South Carolina dropped nine spots to No. 25. Poll is shown with last week’s ranking in parenthesis.

1. Vanderbilt 15-3 (2)

2. Arkansas 14-3 (1)

3. Mississippi State 16-4 (3)

4. Ole Miss 16-4 (4)

5. Florida 16-5 (5)

6. Texas Tech 16-4 (7)

7. Louisville 14-5 (8)

8. East Carolina 16-3 (9)

9. Texas 14-6 (10)

10. UCLA 12-6 (11)

11. Georgia Tech 11-6 (12)

12. Tennessee 17-4 (13)

13. TCU 13-7 (15)

14. Notre Dame 9-3 (17)

15. Pittsburgh 11-4 (18)

16. Oregon 10-4 (20)

17. Florida State 10-6 (NR)

18. Michigan 9-2 (22)

19. Miami 9-7 (6)

20. Oklahoma State 12-5-1 (14)

21. Oregon State 13-4 (23)

22. LSU 16-5 (19)

23. Louisiana Tech 13-5 (NR)

24. North Carolina 12-6 (NR)

25. South Carolina 12-6 (16)

More weekend results

▪ USC softball: The No. 24 Gamecocks were 4-1 last week, including taking two out of three games against No. 20 UCF at Carolina Softball Stadium at Beckham Field. South Carolina (17-7) won its first series over a ranked opponent since April 14, 2019.

▪ Clemson baseball: Clemson defeated No. 25 Virginia Tech 4-2 Sunday to win the weekend series 2-1 at Doug Kingsmore Stadium. James Parker’s three-run home run in the eighth inning was the difference. The Tigers are 8-9 overall and 3-6 in ACC play.

This story was originally published March 21, 2021 at 6:05 PM.