USC Upstate upends South Carolina, delivers Gamecocks another midweek loss
South Carolina baseball’s chances at making a late-season push for a shot at the postseason continued to dwindle Tuesday night, as the Gamecocks dropped a midweek game to USC Upstate 9-6 at Founders Park.
South Carolina (24-23, 10-14 SEC) was unable to claw back from an early 4-0 deficit to the visiting Spartans, who continued to add onto their early lead throughout the night and tallied 11 hits to the Gamecocks’ seven.
It was USC Upstate’s first win in program history over the Gamecocks, which previously held a 13-0 mark over the Spartans.
“It was one of those nights where we just couldn’t get anything going,” head coach Mark Kingston said.
USC Upstate (31-18, 16-5 Big South) is the second-best team in its conference this year but had an RPI of 110 heading into Tuesday’s matchup. South Carolina’s RPI was 68. Three other prominent midweek losses for the Gamecocks in 2022 came against teams with worse RPIs than theirs — Xavier (73), Presbyterian (116) and The Citadel (234).
USC Upstate got off to a strong start against South Carolina starting pitcher Eli Jones, who exited after tossing 46 pitches in 1.1 innings. Just under a week removed from his first career win, Jones was charged with all four runs of the Spartans’ productive second inning.
Jones met with USC’s trainer and Kingston before walking off the mound, having recently recovered from Tommy John surgery. Aidan Hunter pitched 5.2 innings out of the bullpen, allowing five runs on seven hits with five strikeouts. John Gilreath allowed no runs and one hit with two strikeouts in 2.0 innings.
Kingston didn’t have an immediate update on Jones’ health, saying he “didn’t feel right tonight” and would need to consult with trainers and doctors.
The Gamecocks’ night wasn’t helped by a less-than-stellar offensive performance, as South Carolina batters were retired in order throughout the first, third, fifth and seventh innings. When they did reach base, nine Gamecocks were left stranded Tuesday.
The Gamecocks first found offensive rhythm in the bottom of the second, as Andrew Eyster, Braylen Wimmer and Michael Braswell loaded the bases with no outs. South Carolina mustered one run out of it thanks to a sacrifice fly from Jalen Vasquez, but Colin Burgess later grounded into a double play to leave Wimmer and Braswell stranded.
Josiah Sightler hit his 12th home run of the season in the fourth to cut into USC Upstate’s lead. But the Gamecocks weren’t able to capitalize on an ensuing opportunity, as Evan Stone grounded out and left bases loaded in the fourth.
The Gamecocks loaded the bases three times in the sixth and got three runs off it. Talmadge LeCroy hit a sacrifice fly that scored Wimmer before Brandt Belk’s two-run single brought the Gamecocks within two in the bottom of the sixth.
The Gamecocks are still working to secure a chance at a postseason bid. USC missed out on NCAA Field of 64 projections from both Baseball America and D1Baseball when the websites last updated May 4 and lost last weekend’s series at Texas A&M 2-1.
Tuesday’s loss to USC Upsate matters, as the Gamecocks had hoped to bolster a resume that also includes the prior midweek losses as well as a 3-12 record on the road.
Series wins over Vanderbilt and Texas and a conference sweep of Alabama help South Carolina’s case, though a strong finish in SEC play remains critical for the postseason. The Gamecocks will need to win five of their last six conference games to reach .500 in the SEC.
The next — and final — two SEC series against Kentucky at home at against Florida in Gainesville are critical for South Carolina, which has yet to secure a safe position in the SEC tournament that starts May 24 in Hoover, Alabama.
But Kingston said he doesn’t see playing SEC baseball as pressure, regardless of the stakes.
“There’s no such thing as pressure in baseball, in my opinion,” Kingston said. “It’s opportunity. There’s a lot of things in this world that are pressure. Getting to play baseball in the SEC should not feel like pressure. It should feel like a tremendous opportunity, and that’s how we’re going to approach it.”
Two of the conference’s 14 teams will not receive a bid to the SEC tournament, which includes division winners and 10 at-large selections seeded by conference winning percentage. Following the Texas A&M series, South Carolina (.417) owns tiebreakers over Ole Miss (.417) and Alabama (.417) for the No. 9 spot, but Kentucky (.375) and Mississippi State (.375) aren’t far behind.
Though South Carolina’s margin of error continues to slim, Kingston said he had faith in the Gamecocks’ preparation and belief.
“If they haven’t given in by now, they’re not gonna give in,” Kingston said. “And that’s what we said after Saturday’s gut punch when we gave up the big lead, took a lead and then gave it up again. If the game hasn’t killed us yet, it’s not going to. So it’s just a matter of taking this — another punch tonight —and coming out ready to go. They’ll be ready to go.”
South Carolina baseball remaining schedule
- Friday, May 13: vs. Kentucky, 7 p.m. (SEC Network Plus)
- Saturday, May 14: vs. Kentucky, noon (SEC Network)
- Saturday, May 15: vs. Kentucky, 1:30 p.m. (SEC Network Plus)
Tuesday, May 17: vs. Charlotte, 7 p.m. (SEC Network Plus)
Thursday, May 19: at Florida, 7 p.m. (SEC Network Plus)
Friday, May 20: at Florida, 7 p.m. (SEC Network Plus)
Thursday, May 21: at Florida, 2 p.m. (SEC Network Plus)
This story was originally published May 10, 2022 at 10:30 PM.
