How South Carolina rallied to beat Virginia in NCAA baseball opener
This was the kind of moment Josiah Sightler had visualized when he first committed to South Carolina from Swansea High School — thousands of Gamecocks fans screaming in unison, the Founders Park home dugout rocking with energy.
Sightler himself couldn’t contain his emotions as he stood on second base in the bottom of the sixth inning, his whole body shaking with pure adrenaline. This was the kind of moment the entire Gamecocks team had been waiting for.
Friday afternoon’s bout between No. 3-seed Virginia and No. 2-seed South Carolina was the first NCAA regional game in Columbia since 2016 — and the first postseason experience any Gamecock on this team has had in Founders Park.
That home-field advantage pronounced itself in emphatic fashion in the sixth inning when — after struggling to hit electric Virginia lefty Andrew Abbott all game long — the Gamecocks rallied to take a lead. From there, USC would go on to take down the Cavaliers, 4-3, to advance to Saturday’s 7 p.m. winner’s bracket game.
“When you’re in high school and you commit to a university, that’s one thing you take into consideration is playing in a regional with thousands of fans behind you rooting you on,” Sightler said. ”This is my first regional ever. Never went to any regionals growing up, so being able to play in my first regional and experience my first regional ever is awesome. After the game you have so many people coming up to you saying, ‘Hey, I’m from your small town.’
Sightler was in the middle of it all. With two outs, two on and USC down, 3-1, the left-handed hitter dropped his bat head on a breaking ball from Abbott and ripped it into the right-field corner to tie the game at 3-3 and send the crowd of 5,444 fans into a frenzy.
Two batters later, catcher Colin Burgess poked a ground-ball single through the left side and Sightler came motoring home to score the go-ahead run, greeted by his exuberant teammates at home plate.
The moment flipped the switch on a game that had seemingly been in Virginia’s control.
The game started on a strong note for South Carolina. The Gamecocks had their stopper on the mound in junior right-hander Brett Kerry, and he set the right tone early, retiring his first three batters. Minutes later, Gamecocks slugger Wes Clarke hit his NCAA-leading 23rd homer of the season, giving USC a 1-0 lead and moving him into a tie for the second-most homers in a single season by a Gamecock.
But from there, the game started to unravel. Kerry left with a neck injury in the third inning after giving up solo home runs to Virginia brothers Zack Gelof and Jake Gelof, forcing head coach Mark Kingston to turn the bullpen early. Kingston said after the game that Kerry was dealing with a muscle cramp.
Lefty Julian Bosnic was solid in relief for the Gamecocks, allowing one run in 3.2 innings. But Abbott was even better, dicing through the Gamecocks lineup, retiring 10 in a row after Clarke’s homer.
USC stayed close and finally broke through in the sixth. Shortstop George Callil drew a walk and Clarke hit a ground-rule double with two outs to set up the game-changing double for Sightler.
“It’s something you don’t even dream of,” Sightler said. “It’s such a great feeling to be out there and hear everyone cheer you on, and it’s something that when you can experience it, you take full advantage of it.”
Next USC baseball game
The Gamecocks play at 7 p.m. Saturday against Old Dominion on SEC Network.
This story was originally published June 4, 2021 at 3:15 PM.
