Series slips away: 3 takeaways as South Carolina baseball drops finale to Oklahoma
South Carolina baseball opened SEC play losing two of three to No. 12 Oklahoma this weekend at Founders Park.
Coming out of non-conference play, the Gamecocks were hard to judge. They only had three losses, but they were all sour defeats. All three were at the hands of Clemson — the only Power-4, formidable opponent on its schedule. For the first month of the season, all South Carolina had proved was that it could beat less-talented teams.
That notion was dispelled in its opening SEC series — while also not leading to a series win.
After going down early and falling on Friday, the Gamecocks responded with an offensive clinic on Saturday. USC then lost a ninth-inning lead Sunday and fell 6-5 in 10 innings to the Sooners (17-2, 2-1 SEC).
“That was a bitter pill to swallow,” USC coach Paul Mainieri said Sunday.
Here are three observations from the series:
South Carolina’s pitching always getting into trouble
Rare is it where the Gamecocks (16-5, 1-2 SEC) have a nice, clean, quick inning. There’s always drama.
In Saturday’s 11-5 win, starter Jake McCoy only allowed four runs, but he gave up nine hits, three walks and had a runner on base in all but one inning. His replacement, Tyler Pitzer, walked five batters in his first three innings and nearly drove his head coach mad.
“I did ask Pitzer before the ninth inning if he felt good enough to finish the game. And he said yes,” Mainieri said Saturday. “I said, ‘Would you please do me a favor and not walk anybody? I’m 67-years old. I don’t know how much more my heart can take. Please, just throw the ball over the plate in the ninth.’ ”
This has been a theme of South Carolina all season: Get into trouble and then — most of the time — pitch out of trouble.
The Gamecocks pushed that to the limit on Sunday. Starter Dylan Eskew walked the first batter of the day, hit the second and then retired the next three Sooners. No big deal. Even while handing out four walks, Eskew only allowed one run. But, as expected, the ending isn’t always rosy.
Reliever Matthew Becker took the mound in the seventh and fought command issues. He walked his first two batters, but responded and nearly escaped the inning with no damage. Then Oklahoma’s Easton Carmichael blasted a two-out, two-RBI double of the left-field wall. Tie game.
“We walked the first two guys in the inning with a two-run lead,” Mainieri said. “That usually doesn’t turn out well for you.”
Heck, Becker stayed in the game after that and walked two more batters. Luckily for USC, reliever Zach Russell pitched out of the bases-loaded jam.
The point: What South Carolina’s pitchers did this weekend doesn’t seem sustainable. When you’re always flying near the sun, the burns are gonna come.
Not sold on Gamecocks finding ways to win
A big talking point for Mainieri and his players heading into the Clemson series was the fact that South Carolina was battle-tested. It had found ways to mount comebacks in early-season games and edge out tight contests.
Then it got swept by Clemson and that narrative went away.
But after Saturday’s win over Oklahoma, Mainieri said this: “We beat all the teams we were supposed to beat before the SEC, except for the tough series against Clemson. I don’t think we knew how to win then. And now I think we know how to win.”
A day later, the Gamecocks took a 5-3 lead into the ninth inning. Closer Brendan Sweeney got the first batter out ... and then things got wonky. A walk. A hit fielder’s choice. An botched ground ball by second baseman Jordan Carrion. Then an RBI single.
In a blink, Oklahoma tied the ball game. An inning later, Sooners’ center fielder Jason Walk — who came into the day with just one home run — belted a ball into Oklahoma’s bullpen.
“We should’ve won the game going away,” Mainieri said. “I thought we out-hit them. I thought we pitched great, for the most part. Unfortunately, we just did a few things that ended up contributing to our demise in the game today.”
These games happen. Every college baseball team in America has a few games a year where it feels like they just gave it away. That was the case on Sunday. Does it mean the sky is falling for the Gamecocks? Absolutely not. But it’s also hard to say the Gamecocks have proven they know how to win.
Gamecocks’ next star is KJ Scobey
Coming into the season, Mainieri — not a coach concerned with being coy about his personnel — made it clear that Scobey was going to be his starting third baseman. Maineri wasn’t sure how well he could hit and he didn’t care. Scobey’s glove was so elite, Mainieri said, that he has to be out there.
After 21 games, Mainieri might have been underselling Scobey.
Let’s start with the glove. It is magnificent.
Forget that he’s a freshman. Scobey is so poised at the hot corner. Missle down the line? Slow chopper? Doesn’t matter, Scobey never looks rushed. And, perhaps part of the reason he looks so collected is because he doesn’t need to hurry a throw. Sometimes it looks like he’s firing 100 mph fastballs across the diamond.
Mainieri called third base “the most underrated position on the field,” joking that coaches don’t realize they don’t have a good third baseman until you don’t have one. South Carolina found that out last season, when it moved Talmadge LeCroy to the hot corner and watched its SEC Tournament hopes go up in flames.
And then there’s the bat. He came into Sunday with third third-highest batting average (.311) among every-day starters after blasting a 439-foot home run on Saturday. In the rubber match, too, Scobey got USC on the board with a sac fly
“He’s going to be a special one,” Mainieri said.
USC baseball schedule: Upcoming games
- Tuesday vs. Charleston at Segra Park, 6:30 p.m. (SEC Network Plus)
- March 21 at Arkansas, 7:30 p.m. (SEC Network Plus)
- March 22 at Arkansas, 3 p.m. (SEC Network Plus)
- March 23 at Arkansas, 3 p.m. (SEC Network Plus)
This story was originally published March 16, 2025 at 6:35 PM.
