Gamecocks drop midweek rivalry contest to North Carolina in extra innings
Twice Tuesday, South Carolina baseball responded when North Carolina seized the lead in Charlotte, generating just enough offense to tie the game.
That was enough to force extra innings in the midweek contest. But it wasn’t enough to claim the win as the Tar Heels scraped together one more run in the 10th inning and came out victorious, 3-2.
USC had just three hits in the contest — none with runners aboard — and stranded six runners in the game. Sophomore Braylen Wimmer, the team’s leader in batting average, was absent from the lineup after a death in his family.
South Carolina’s pitchers, meanwhile, were mostly able to avoid hard contact from UNC. In the end, though, the Tar Heels got just enough small ball to eke out the win.
In the decisive 10th inning, redshirt sophomore Julian Bosnic’s stuff was good for the Gamecocks, but UNC put runners on first and second with one out off bunt and infield singles. Sophomore Caleb Roberts then laced a ground ball up the middle to score the game-winning run.
Quick start
Just about the only real hard hitting North Carolina did all game came in the first inning, when it jumped on freshman starter Jack Mahoney, getting a leadoff triple to right-center field from redshirt sophomore Angel Zarate, then an RBI single from sophomore Justice Thompson.
Two more singles loaded the bases, but Mahoney and the Gamecocks got a break when second baseman Jeff Heinrich snagged a pop up in shallow right field. He threw home when the runner on third faked tagging up, and his toss got past catcher Wes Clarke. The runner then broke for home, but the ball caromed perfectly to Mahoney, who was backing up the play, and he flipped it to Clarke for an unusual 4-1-2 double play.
South Carolina evened the score in the bottom of the first without recording a hit — leadoff man Brady Allen walked, went to second after designated hitter Colin Burgess was hit by a pitch, advanced to third on a ground out and scored on a sacrifice fly from cleanup hitter Wes Clarke.
Neither team scored again for the next four innings, though the Gamecocks did threaten thanks to three walks in the bottom of the fifth.
Finally in the sixth, UNC went back ahead, also without the benefit of a hit. USC reliever Danny Lloyd walked the first batters he faced, then gave up a sacrifice bunt and RBI groundout.
But once more South Carolina quickly leveled things — left fielder Josiah Sightler came up in the bottom half of the inning and smacked the first pitch he saw to center for his fourth home run of the year.
David Mendham had a one-out double in the ninth inning, but he was stranded and the Gamecocks didn’t put a base runner aboard again.
NEXT USC BASEBALL GAME
Who: No. 11 South Carolina vs. Missouri
When: 7 p.m. Friday
Where: Founders Park
Watch: Streaming online on SEC Network Plus via WatchESPN
This story was originally published April 6, 2021 at 10:19 PM.
