South Carolina stays alive in NCAA hosting hunt with SEC Tournament win over Georgia
Don’t count South Carolina out of the hosting race just yet.
Despite head coach Mark Kingston’s description of USC’s hosting chances as a “slam dunk,” the Gamecocks (39-17) opened SEC Tournament play on Tuesday with a sense of ambiguity around their chances of playing at home for an NCAA regional. After four straight SEC series losses to end the regular season, USC slipped out of D1Baseball’s Top 25 and dropped to a No. 2 seed in the outlet’s field of 64 projection. Baseball America had the Gamecocks just narrowly in the hosting field — as the No. 13 seed.
In short, USC came to Hoover, Alabama with some work to do.
The No. 6-seeded Gamecocks seemed rejuvenated Tuesday against No. 11 Georgia, defeating the Bulldogs 9-0. The win snapped a streak of five straight SEC Tournament losses for USC, dating back to 2018, and it was also the first shutout win for the Gamecocks in tournament history.
“I think this was our best all-around game, no errors, 12 hits, nine runs, no earned runs given up. We had more walks than strikeouts offensively,” Kingston said. “That is what it felt like for 40 games for us, truthfully.”
After a string of listless offensive performances, the Gamecocks came out swinging against the Bulldogs, peppering UGA pitchers for 12 hits and applying pressure early and often.
USC chased Georgia lefty ace Jaden Woods — fresh off a five-week injury absence — by loading the bases in the second inning, and nine-hole hitter Evan Stone hit a two-run single to score the first USC runs of the tournament. The Gamecocks broke through again in the fourth inning, against three different UGA pitchers. Both Dylan Brewer and Michael Braswell hit RBI singles, and Cole Messina drew a bases-loaded walk to push the lead to 5-0.
That run support was more than sufficient for USC right-hander James Hicks, who turned in his best outing of the season at a crucial time. Making just his fourth start of the year, Hicks neutralized a powerful Bulldogs lineup that features three batters with at least 16 home runs, including freshman star Charlie Condon’s 25 homers — third in the country.
Relying on his sinker and slider, Hicks pounded the righty-heavy UGA lineup inside and low in the zone, forcing ground ball after ground ball and carving through the Bulldogs at a breakneck pace. Hicks allowed just four hits, two walks and struck out six in 6.2 scoreless innings. He ran into trouble in the seventh, when Georgia loaded the bases with two outs. But reliever Cade Austin entered the game and recorded a strikeout to end the inning.
“I’ve been working on the sinker, making sure I can get it in on people, and today I just went out there and reminded myself to stay within myself, not try to do anything extra, just relax and throw,” Hicks said. “(Pitching coach Justin) Parker came up with the game plan, and he’s really good at scouting what to throw everyone. I just trusted him and tried to execute each pitch.”
After that seventh-inning scare, USC freshman Will Tippett hit a bases-clearing, two-out triple in the bottom half of the frame to extend the lead to 8-0 and put the game well out of reach.
With the win, the Gamecocks transition from the single-elimination portion of the bracket to double-elimination, guaranteeing at least two more games this week. USC will face off against No. 3 LSU on Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. — effectively serving as a rubber game for the rain-shortened two-game series the teams played and split earlier in the season.
There’s no word yet on which pitcher the Gamecocks will start Wednesday. Their options are limited due to injuries to Will Sanders, Noah Hall, Eli Jerzembeck and others.
Whoever starts, he’ll be pitching for a team with a renewed sense of energy. Kingston said he noticed his players buzzing as early as 6 a.m. and during the team’s 7 a.m. breakfast.
“Today’s game is about what the first 40 or so games felt where we just knew that our offense would be there, our defense would be there, we would pitch at a high level,” Kingston said. “Then we hit some adversity.
“Today felt like us. It felt like how we played baseball for the great majority of the season.”
SEC tournament: Next USC baseball games
Wednesday: vs. No. 3 LSU, 10:30 a.m. (SEC Network)
Thursday: vs. TBD, either 10:30 a.m. or 5:30 p.m. (SEC Network)
This story was originally published May 23, 2023 at 1:06 PM.
