South Carolina baseball loses first game of season to Belmont
South Carolina baseball trailed Saturday afternoon, which is a story in and of itself. Before Saturday, the Gamecocks had trailed just twice this season and, in both instances, they had regained the lead in a matter of minutes.
This team played itself out of adversity with great pitching and better offense.
But when the adversity stuck Saturday, the Gamecocks could find the antidote. Pitchers Dylan Eskew and Chris Veach had struggles and the offense couldn’t muster a timely hit.
And so, for the first time in 2024, South Carolina (6-1) suffered a loss, falling to Belmont, 11-2 .
“Just nothing went our way today,” South Carolina coach Mark Kingston said. “They played better than us. They pitched better than us. ... Our job now is to bounce back and be ready to go tomorrow.”
Roman Kimball will take the mound for Gamecocks in the rubber match Sunday and, if you remember, Kimball’s last start ended in a no-hitter.
Also of note: South Carolina has not lost a non-conference series to a non-Power-5 school since 2010, when it fell twice to East Carolina. The Gamecocks went on to win the national championship that season.
Eskew, South Carolina’s starting pitcher, had a no-hitter going through four innings Saturday. His command was masterful. On a windy day, he was keeping his pitchers down in the zone, helping him rack up three strikeouts.
“He was cruising for a while,” Kingston said.
But his location waned in the fifth inning. Eskew walked the first batter of the frame and plunked the second. Then, finally, Belmont got a hit. Center fielder Michael Lareau roped a 2-RBI double into left field. An inning later, another Belmont double scored two more runs.
“They made an adjustment, started going the other way with balls,” said Eskew, “and they ended up getting to me.”
Heading into the bottom of the sixth, South Carolina trailed by four runs. For context, the Gamecocks hadn’t allowed more than four runs in any of their first six games (and only 11 combined runs all season).
At every point when there were runs for the taking and the suspense built, South Carolina struck out.
In the sixth, Will Tippett struck out with a man on third.
In the seventh, Parker Noland and Ethan Petry struck out with a runner on. Then Talmadge Lecroy watched strike three with two runners in scoring position.
In the eighth, after South Carolina pitcher Chris Veach allowed a home run that bumped the Belmont lead to a half-dozen, the Gamecocks’ first two batters reached base. The opportunity was ripe.
But, on this day, nothing went right.
The next three batters — Gavin Casas, Carson Hornung and Blake Jackson — all struck out looking. On the afternoon, the Gamecocks struck out eight times, six of which the USC batter went down watching.
“Obviously, we thought calls should have went our way more,” said center fielder Dylan Brewer, who went 2 for 3. “But it’s over now. We’re gonna come back tomorrow with a whole new mindset.”
At the end of the eighth inning, after Jackson went down on a strike-three call he and the Founders Park faithful disagreed with, Kingston walked out to the field and stared down home-plate umpire Matthew Wilbanks for almost 30 seconds.
Wilbanks looked the other way.
This story was originally published February 24, 2024 at 4:57 PM.
