Gamecocks take down Gators again to secure signature series victory
There was no reason to panic.
After No. 25 South Carolina opened the year with a sizzling-hot 11 straight wins, the Gamecocks were bound to come down to earth, especially against the likes of Texas and Vanderbilt on the road. In the last two weekends, the Longhorns swept the Gamecocks, and the Commodores no-hit them — but South Carolina didn’t let those struggles mount.
Mark Kingston’s club proved this weekend that it remains a force to be reckoned with in the Southeastern Conference. With a 4-1 win over No. 5 Florida on Saturday, the Gamecocks (15-6, 3-2 SEC) moved above .500 in SEC play and clinched their first series win over the Gators since 2011.
“I’m thinking about it all in terms of 2021. It’s a big series win in the SEC,” Kingston said after the game. “We all know that the entire league is going to be scrapping to get to .500 or try to be a little bit better than that, because we’re all going to beat up on each other. So it’s a great series win for 2021.”
USC starter Brannon Jordan provided much-needed longevity on the mound after Friday night’s 14-inning epic. The senior right-hander struck out nine Gators and allowed just one run on five hits in seven innings. He pitched himself into trouble early in the game, allowing back-to-back two-out hits in the second inning to give Florida a 1-0 lead, but he relied on his power breaking ball to hold Florida in check the rest of the way.
“My mentality today was to attack the strike zone,” Jordan said. “I knew if I could get ahead of those guys, they weren’t gonna be able to string too many hits off of us. So I went in there and tried to do that, executed well. So when I got to the sixth, I was like, ‘I can keep going through this and definitely help us out for tomorrow.’ ”
Offensively, junior Wes Clarke snapped back into early-season form to provide the Gamecocks with the only runs they’d need. He hit his NCAA-leading 12th home run of the year in the bottom of the fifth inning — a three-run go-ahead shot against Florida starter Jack Leftwich. The homer was his first hit in SEC play, as Clarke’s bat had cooled after a torrid start.
Kingston said that Clarke has had to deal with opposing teams pitching around him in recent weeks, and he’s had to adjust his approach at the plate because of it. Clarke said he took note of the way Florida pitchers pounded the outside corner against him all weekend, so he looked for an outside fastball in the fifth inning and made sure he didn’t miss it.
“When people aren’t challenging you as much as you’d like, it takes a lot of discipline to be able to just go up there and take those pitches that looks so good but they aren’t,” Clarke said. “A big adjustment for me was just to slow down, see the ball deeper and get my swings off when I have the opportunity — because it might be the only pitch I get the whole at-bat.”
Outside of Clarke, the USC lineup struggled to capitalize on early opportunities against an erratic Leftwich, who hit a USC record six batters in just 4.2 innings. But the Gamecocks did manage to add an insurance run for closer Brett Kerry with a George Callil sacrifice fly in the eighth.
Most importantly, USC found a way to clinch a key series and bounce back from consecutive series losses.
“It means a lot,” Clarke said. “It shows that — earlier in the season when we lost to Texas, lost to Vandy, even our midweek loss — it shows that we can build from that. We’ve learned a lot about our team and we’re starting to figure things out and we’re going to get rolling, and it shows with this series.”
NEXT USC BASEBALL GAME
Who: No. 25 South Carolina (15-6, 3-2 SEC) vs. No. 5 Florida (16-7, 3-2)
When: Sunday at noon
Where: Founders Park in Columbia
Watch: SEC Network
This story was originally published March 27, 2021 at 6:40 PM.
