Vandy draws first blood in SEC series as Gamecocks’ losing streak reaches 5 games
Noah Hall grimaced as he picked himself up off the infield turf at Founders Park.
Hall grabbed at his right leg after Dominick Keegan ripped a single off South Carolina’s starter. Across the diamond, the Vanderbilt dugout celebrated its third run of the fifth inning.
After four no-hit innings, Hall was tagged for four runs in the frame — including a rocketed single that ricocheted off his body — as No. 4 Vanderbilt (19-2, 4-0) downed South Carolina (10-11, 0-4 SEC) 10-0 on Thursday in Columbia.
“Vanderbilt was much better than us tonight,” head coach Mark Kingston said postgame. “They threw more strikes and got bigger hits. We’ve got to move on to tomorrow, and we will.”
South Carolina has taken its lumps this year. It lost midweek games to Xavier and The Citadel. It was swept in dominating fashion by No. 5 Tennessee in Knoxville. An unexpected series win over then-No. 1 Texas momentarily silenced doubters, but USC limped into this weekend on a four-game losing streak.
Injuries to the pitching staff — notably starters Julian Bosnic and James Hicks — have forced Kingston and pitching coach Justin Parker to get creative in their weekend rotations. Hall largely rewarded his head coach’s faith with a quartet of no-hit innings.
The Appalachian State transfer mixed speeds in and out of the zone, working through his first two innings on just 17 total pitches. Twice he stranded Vanderbilt runners on the basepaths, responding with visceral outbursts of excitement.
But there’s only so far Hall’s arm can carry him at present as he continues to transition from reliever to starter. Thursday, that wall came in the fifth inning.
Vanderbilt notched its first run of the night on a fielder’s choice up the middle that scored Carter Young from third. The Commodores added three more runs in the frame via a Davis Diaz double and singles from Keegan and Troy LaNeve.
Hall fought through the ball off his leg to pitch one more inning. He finished his day allowing four runs on four hits while striking out six batters over his six innings pitched.
“I got too comfortable,” Hall explained in reference to the fifth inning. “I didn’t stay in attack mode. I started getting loose. I needed to speed up my wind-up.”
Behind Hall, Vanderbilt hammered normally reliable lefty John Gilreath. The Commodores bludgeoned Gilreath for five runs on just five hits in the seventh inning as the defending College World Series finalists strolled to a Game 1 win.
“His command is not what it needs to be after being here for so long,” Kingston said. “We need better than that from John. He’s been better than that. But we need consistency out of John. He’s been here too long to not be able to come in and give us three outs.”
South Carolina’s Southeastern Conference slate will ease considerably next week against perennial league cellar-dweller Missouri. Ace Will Sanders, too, is still slated to pitch on Friday, and should give the Gamecocks a chance to steal a game against Vanderbilt.
Kingston pointed to the 2021 Atlanta Braves as a case study in patience amid a losing streak that has now reached five games. The Braves started the season 51-54. They ended it with a World Series crown.
There aren’t 162 games for Kingston’s bunch to get things right. He conceded as much in his spiel. But there’s still time for South Carolina to flip a switch with 33 games remaining.
Piling up losses like Thursday, though, have the wounded Gamecocks treading water only a week-plus into conference play.
Next South Carolina baseball game
Who: South Carolina vs. No. 4 Vanderbilt
When: Friday, 7 p.m.
Where: Founders Park — Columbia, SC
Watch: Streaming, SEC Network Plus
This story was originally published March 24, 2022 at 10:47 PM.
