Gamecocks can’t finish UK sweep, but still help postseason cause with series win
The South Carolina baseball team couldn’t finish off a sweep of Kentucky on Sunday, but the Gamecocks did bolster their postseason resume this weekend with a sorely needed series win.
The Gamecocks (26-24, 12-15 SEC) fell to the Wildcats 7-1 Sunday after securing lopsided victories on Friday and Saturday. USC’s bats went cold against the Kentucky pitching staff, while the Wildcats homered twice against starter Will Sanders and once against reliever Matthew Becker to build their lead.
Coming into the weekend both outside the NCAA tournament picture and in danger of missing the SEC tournament, the Gamecocks fortified their place in the 12-team SEC tournament and remain in striking distance for a regional berth.
At No. 63 in the RPI heading into Sunday, the Gamecocks don’t currently project as a regional team, but they’ll have opportunities to make their case with an end-of-season series at Florida next weekend before heading to Hoover, Alabama for the conference tournament. USC is 3-12 in road games this year.
The Gamecocks are playing some of their best baseball after struggling for much of the season with offensive consistency and ineffective relief pitching on an injury-decimated pitching staff. The offense in particular has stepped up a notch of late. One weekend after the Gamecocks hit .348 with seven homers and 40 hits against Texas A&M, USC pounded Kentucky for 18 runs on 25 hits in the first two games before falling flat Sunday with one run on four hits.
One day after starter Noah Hall threw eight scoreless innings, Sanders provided similar length on the mound, giving up four runs (two earned) on seven hits in seven frames. Becker relieved Sanders in the eighth and gave up a three-run home run to third baseman Chase Estep that put the game well out of reach.
“We go in every weekend thinking and preparing to win the series,” veteran infielder Kevin Madden said. “And that’s the thing about this weekend is — we can’t hang our heads because we still won this series. And we got to keep going. However many games they give us, we got to give it all every game that we got.”
USC baseball remaining schedule
This story was originally published May 15, 2022 at 4:29 PM.
