South Carolina, Will Sanders outlast Texas in upset of No. 1 Longhorns
Braylen Wimmer stood atop first base at Founders Park and let out a cry toward the South Carolina dugout.
“Let’s go!” he bellowed, flexing his arms in the direction of his black-jerseyed brethren.
Clocking an RBI single through the middle of the Texas infield, it was Wimmer’s fifth-inning hit that gave USC (8-6) the insurance run it needed in a 4-2 win over the No. 1 Longhorns (13-3) in the first game of Sunday’s doubleheader.
Less than 24 hours prior, South Carolina showed signs of life amid a five-game losing streak. After hitting .198 in its previous four games entering the weekend, it tagged Texas ace Pete Hansen for three runs and four hits in the first inning Saturday.
Sunday brought more of the same in snapping a five-game losing streak.
The Gamecocks jumped on Longhorns starter Tristan Stevens, who came into the contest with a 0.00 ERA, recording a trio of hits and a run in the first frame.
Stevens settled in, but not with his usual dominating stuff. South Carolina steadily picked away at Texas’ No. 2 arm. The Gamecocks strung together four runs and six hits on the previously unhittable Stevens.
Kevin Madden and Carson Hornung each pieced together deep sacrifice flies to score a runner from third and stretch the South Carolina lead to a pair.
Finally, it was Wimmer’s single through the middle that sent Stevens to the Texas dugout and pushed South Carolina’s lead back out to two runs following a Texas score in the top of the fifth inning.
The Gamecocks offense did its part on Sunday. That South Carolina survived the opening game of the two-contest afternoon, though, fell on the arm of ace Will Sanders.
Sanders had been slated to pitch on Friday before rain pushed Game 1 to Saturday. Head coach Mark Kingston instead opted to throw his No. 1 arm in Sunday’s seven-inning opener.
Boy, did Sanders deliver.
The right-hander stranded six Texas runners through the first five innings. He fanned six Longhorn batters as an encore to his 14-strikeout outing against Clemson last week.
Sanders slowed some in the back half of Sunday’s first game. A single by Texas No. 9 hitter Dylan Campbell was backed up by a pair of walks. Sanders promptly walked his third consecutive batter with the bases loaded and two outs in the frame, trimming the Gamecocks’ lead to just a run.
But as has been the case throughout his young South Carolina career, Sanders delivered when needed. The hard-throwing tower of a pitcher made swift work of Texas’ Mitchell Daly, striking him out on a 1-2 pitch to close the frame and end the threat.
Behind Sanders, it was do-it-all freshman Michael Braswell who put the finishing touches on the biggest win of the Gamecocks’ young season.
Texas leadoff man Douglas Hodo III added to the nerves around Founders Park when he singled to open the seventh inning and moved to second on a balk. Braswell never relented. The Georgia native set down the next three Longhorns via a pair of groundouts and a fly out to set up a Sunday afternoon rubber match scheduled for 4:30 p.m.
South Carolina has been maligned throughout the opening month of the 2022 season. A sweep at the hands of arch-rival Clemson and a loss to a then-3-9 Xavier team only made those dissenting voices louder.
The Gamecocks may still drop this weekend’s series against the No. 1 Longhorns when the sun sets on Sunday. But a win on the arm of Sanders and through opportunistic hitting by an increasingly dangerous order gave a glimpse of what South Carolina can be when clicking on all cylinders.
That’s a development Wimmer and the rest of the Gamecocks ought to shout about.
South Carolina-Texas Game 3, Sunday
Where: Founders Park, Columbia
When: Second game of doubleheader starts at 4:30 p.m. (9-inning game)
Watch: Streaming on SEC Network Plus
Weather: Sunny, high near 55 degrees
This story was originally published March 13, 2022 at 3:45 PM.
