South Carolina drops series opener to No. 7 Georgia. 3 key takeaways

It had been a whirlwind week for South Carolina baseball.

Seven days ago, Paul Mainieri was head coach of the Gamecocks, and USC had dropped its series opener to Arkansas 12-2. USC parted ways with Mainieri the next morning and handed the reins to interim coach Monte Lee on Saturday. The next day, the Gamecocks stole a win against the top-5 ranked Razorbacks and avoided the first 0-6 SEC start in program history.

USC fell 9-1 to North Carolina on Tuesday, bringing the Gamecocks back to earth and forcing a reset for Lee before he coached his first full weekend series with USC against No. 7 Georgia. The Gamecocks’ new skipper said he and his team were ready to take responsibilty for whatever happens in the rest of USC’s turbulent 2026 season.

“If things go well, players deserve the credit,” Lee said Thursday. “If it doesn’t go well, I deserve the blame, right? That’s how coaching works. It’s called accountability. … That’s the way we’re gonna do things around here.”

One week wasn’t enough to turn things around completely. USC dropped Friday’s series opener 5-2 against the Bulldogs. It’s the eighth game this season where USC has scored fewer than three runs.

“I’m proud of our team, period. We competed our rear-ends off. We’ve gotta find a way to get a big hit with runners on base, there’s no doubt about that, but boy, we competed,” Lee said. “Our guys didn’t flinch.”

Free passes burn Josh Gunther early

It’s been an up-and-down start to SEC play for USC ace Josh Gunther (13-14, 1-6 SEC).

Gunther began the Gamecocks’ conference slate with six innings of no-hit ball against Florida. He followed it up with a blow-up start against Arkansas, where he allowed nine earned runs and was pulled in the third inning.

His Friday outing against the Bulldogs (21-6, 5-2 SEC) landed somewhere in the middle.

Gunther struggled with his control, walking four batters and hitting one. He allowed a leadoff walk in each of his first three innings pitched. UGA took advantage in the second inning, hitting a grand slam for a 5-1 lead after Gunther loaded the bases with the help of two walks.

“You give their guy credit. He’s a great hitter. We hung a slider and, you know, grand slam,” Lee said.

The Wake Forest transfer settled in and held Georgia scoreless over the next two innings, but he was pulled for Parker Marlatt in the fifth inning after Gunther had thrown 87 pitches.

Late life on offense not enough

The Gamecocks have struggled at the plate. They came into Friday’s matchup having scored fewer than three runs in seven games this season. USC scored fewer than three runs in 11 games during the entire 2025 season.

It looked like the series opener was shaping up to be the eighth game of that variety, and it was unfolding in particularly frusturating fashion.

USC outhit Georgia 5-4 through the first six innings, but all five hits were singles and culminated in one run. The Bulldogs’ grand slam — their only runs scored in the game — was enough to make it a four-run deficit for USC. UGA starter Joey Volchko had a solid outing, striking out six batters in 6.2 innings pitched.

The Gamecocks showed some life in the seventh, scoring their second run of the game on a Jake Randolph RBI single to make it 5-2. Georgia coach Wes Johnson pulled Volchko, but Bulldogs reliever Justin Byrd got out of the inning scoreless.

USC continued to roll in the eighth inning, as Luke Yuhasz hit a leadoff double for the Gamecocks’ first extra-base hit of the night. The Gamecocks ended up loading the bases with two outs for Talmadge LeCroy. He grounded out to third to strand three runners.

The Gamecocks hit a two-out single in the ninth inning but couldn’t rally any further. USC finished the game with 13 runners stranded on base and outhit UGA 9-4.

“We had some good at-bats,” Lee said. “We just couldn’t come up with that big hit to get us right back in it. … I thought everybody in the lineup did something solid today, but we’ve gotta find a way to kick that door in.”

Solid relief work

Marlatt, as well as sophomore righty Zach Russell, aren’t exactly USC’s most high-leverage relievers. But the Gamecocks called upon both bullpen arms Friday after Gunther’s early exit. The Gamecocks, down 5-1 going into the seventh inning, clearly didn’t want to burn their better relievers with two more games to play this weekend.

But the pair did more than just keep it close Friday. The two shut down a Georgia offense that looked like it was just starting to heat up. Marlatt and Russell combined for two innings of shutout pitching against UGA.

After USC tacked on a second run in the seventh inning and made it a three-run game, and Russell walked a leadoff runner in the bottom of the seventh, Lee decided to go with Alex Philpott out of the bullpen. Philpott was a projected starter for the Gamecocks but injured his throwing arm right before the beginning of the season. Friday was his third appearance of the year.

“I didn’t think we executed great until we got to Philpott. Philpott was as good as I’ve seen him. But we found a way to battle and put up zeroes as a pitching staff even when we weren’t at our best,” Lee said.

Philpott got out of the seventh inning clean and tossed a scoreless eighth. He wouldn’t get the opportunity to pitch in the ninth. USC’s relievers allowed one hit in four scoreless innings, striking out two and walking four.

South Carolina baseball schedule

• Saturday: at Georgia, 2 p.m. (SEC Network Plus)
• Sunday: at Georgia, 1 p.m. (SEC Network Plus)
• Tuesday, March 31: vs. Wofford, 6:30 p.m. (SEC Network Plus)

This story was originally published March 27, 2026 at 9:19 PM.