Gamecocks withstand late Georgia rally to force Sunday rubber match
All weekend long, South Carolina seemed to be hunting for that game-changing hit — something that would allow its pitchers to breathe a little bit more on the mound.
In the fifth inning Saturday, catcher Colin Burgess provided it.
With two outs in the fifth, Burgess swatted an opposite-field, three-run home run over the right-field fence to break the game open against visiting No. 14 Georgia. The Gamecocks carried the lead to the end, defeating the Bulldogs 13-7 to set up a Sunday rubber match.
“The game was starting to tighten up a little bit there,” head coach Mark Kingston said of Burgess’ home run swing. “Sometimes a team can start to feel snake-bitten and feel a little bit like, ‘Here we go again.’ It’s natural, it’s human, but I thought that three-run home run ... that was very important for us.”
Offensive production had been difficult to come by for a USC (15-15, 4-7 SEC) team that came into the weekend ranking last in the SEC in batting average, on-base percentage, slugging, home runs and hits. Even on Saturday, the bulk of USC’s scoring output came via Georgia sloppiness on the mound, with the Gamecocks building a 5-0 lead on an RBI groundout, two wild pitches, a bases-loaded walk and a bases-loaded hit by pitch.
But Burgess gave the Gamecocks the jolt they needed to put the Bulldogs away, especially with the way sophomore right-hander Will Sanders was throwing on the mound.
Other than allowing a two-run home run in the fifth inning to UGA shortstop Cole Tate, Sanders held Georgia in check, striking out nine and allowing three runs on five hits and three walks in 6.1 innings.
When Georgia mounted a rally in the seventh — helped in part by an error by shortstop Michael Braswell — the Gamecocks turned to Sunday starter Matthew Becker out of the bullpen to neutralize the situation, showing just how determined USC was to win Saturday. With a pitching staff decimated by injuries, the Gamecocks will likely go with an all-hands-on-deck approach in Sunday’s rubber match as they try to win their second SEC series of the season.
Becker allowed a two-run home run to first baseman Parks Harber in the eighth inning, but the Gamecocks responded with five insurance runs in the bottom half of the frame. Both freshman Talmadge LeCroy and senior Andrew Eyster drove in two runs apiece with a single and double, respectively, as the Gamecocks gradually found their groove at the plate.
Georgia vs. USC, Game 3
Georgia led South Carolina 13-8 through eight innings of Sunday’s series-deciding finale.
Read about the game now at thestate.com/sports
This story was originally published April 9, 2022 at 7:18 PM.
