Tripped up: South Carolina baseball drops super regional opener to Florida
After waiting more than two hours through a delay in rain-soaked Gainesville, the South Carolina baseball team stepped on the field at Condron Ballpark on Friday and immediately asserted itself.
Leadoff man Will McGillis homered on the second pitch of the super regional, admiring the ball from the batter’s box as it curved around the left-field foul pole and landed in the stands. The offensive firepower USC flexed all throughout the Columbia Regional last weekend seemed to travel with the Gamecocks to Gainesville. USC had three runs on seven hits before Florida right-hander Brandon Sproat could even get through the second inning.
But it wouldn’t last.
The No. 2 seed Gators (49-15) awakened the Gainesville crowd with a few big flies of their own, taking control of the game late while the Gamecock offense fizzled. Florida defeated USC 5-4, setting up an elimination game for the Gamecocks (42-20) on Saturday with the Gators one win away from a trip to the College World Series in Omaha.
“I’m sure whoever watched that nationally saw two really, really elite teams going at it,” head coach Mark Kingston said. “It was a prize fight.”
Despite Sproat touching 99 mph on the stadium radar gun, the Gamecocks looked comfortable against the ace in his first two frames before Sproat settled down to throw four scoreless innings.
USC starter James Hicks matched Sproat with three runs in his five innings on the mound. After scoreless starts in the SEC Tournament and last weekend’s regional, Hicks and his power sinker couldn’t keep the ball in the yard against the Gators. In the bottom half of the first, shortstop Josh Rivera hit a two-out, two-run, game-tying home run to deep left field to woo the home crowd back into the game.
Hicks threw up zeroes the next three innings before serving up a hanging offspeed pitch to Florida outfielder Tyler Shelnut in the fifth for a game-tying home run. The Gamecocks opted to pull him after the fifth in favor of former ace Will Sanders — who also pitched out of the bullpen in the Columbia Regional after missing four weeks with a lower-body injury.
The move backfired. Though Sanders struck out Florida sluggers Jac Caglianone and Rivera with his slider to begin his outing, he left a ball down the middle for catcher BT Riopelle with two outs, and Riopelle made him pay with a booming go-ahead home run to dead center field. The Gators tacked on an insurance run in the eighth, charged to Sanders, with a two-out RBI single by Shelnut.
“It’s gonna eat at me,” Sanders said. “That’s not what I worked for. But they’re a good team. They’ve got good hitters. I mean, I threw 46 pitches and got seven outs.”
Those late blows were enough for Florida with the Gamecocks unable to muster much offensively against the UF bullpen. After seven hits in the first two innings, the Gamecocks tallied just four hits for the rest of the game — one of them a second homer by McGillis in the ninth to make it a one-run game.
USC will serve as the home team for Saturday’s Game 2, and the Gamecocks will need a win to keep their Omaha hopes alive.
“We’re in a super regional,” shortstop Braylen Wimmer said. “We’re gonna come back and battle tomorrow and battle the next day. That’s all we can do.”
Gainesville Super Regional
Friday
Game 1: Florida 5, South Carolina 4
Saturday
Game 2: South Carolina vs. Florida, 3 p.m. (ESPN2)
Sunday
Game 3: South Carolina vs. Florida, if necessary (Game time and channel TBA)
NCAA Baseball Tournament schedule, scores
— Virginia vs. Duke, at Charlottesville —
- Game 1: Duke 5, Virginia 4
- Game 2: noon Saturday (ESPN2)
- Game 3: TBD Sunday/if necessary (TV TBD)
— Oregon vs. Oral Roberts, at Eugene —
- Game 1: Oregon 9, Oral Roberts 8
- Game 2: 9 p.m. Saturday (ESPNU)
- Game 3: TBD Sunday/if necessary (TV TBD)
— TCU vs. Indiana State, at Fort Worth —
- Game 1: TCU 4, Indiana State 1
- Game 2: 6 p.m. Saturday (ESPNU)
- Game 3: TBD Sunday/if necessary (TV TBD)
— Wake Forest vs. Alabama, at Winston-Salem —
- Game 1: noon Saturday (ESPN)
- Game 2: TBD Sunday (TV TBD)
- Game 3: TBD Monday/if necessary (TV TBD)
— Stanford vs. Texas, at Stanford —
- Game 1: 6 p.m. Saturday (ESPN2)
- Game 2: TBD Sunday (TV TBD)
- Game 3: TBD Monday/if necessary (TV TBD)
— LSU vs. Kentucky, at Baton Rouge —
- Game 1: 3 p.m. Saturday (ESPN)
- Game 2: TBD Sunday (TV TBD)
- Game 3: TBD Monday/if necessary (TV TBD)
— Southern Miss vs. Tennessee, at Hattiesburg —
- Game 1: 3 p.m. Saturday (ESPNU)
- Game 2: TBD Sunday (TV TBD)
- Game 3: TBD Monday/if necessary (TV TBD)
This story was originally published June 9, 2023 at 11:07 PM.
