Georgia thumps Gamecocks 13-4 to even series

South Carolina prides itself on playing strong defense and pitching well. It did not do either Saturday night in a 13-4 loss to Georgia.

The Gamecocks allowed 19 hits, made two errors and were unable to make several other defensive plays as USC suffered its second blowout loss in the past three games.

Most of Georgia’s damage was done in the third inning as the Bulldogs scored eight runs off Gamecocks starter Braden Webb.

The most hits the freshman had allowed all year was seven last week against Tennessee before Georgia roughed him up for nine hits in 2 1/3 innings on Saturday. Of Georgia’s nine hits off Webb, six came in the third inning.

““You can’t give up big innings in this league and expect to win, and that inning got away from us there,” Carolina coach Chad Holbrook said. “Hopefully we’ll bounce back tomorrow.”

While Webb did not have his best stuff, he was hampered by tough defensive plays that could have been made, but were not.

In the third inning, two ground balls snuck under first baseman LT Tolbert’s glove, shortstop DC Arendas had a ball go under his glove as he was ranging to his right, and catcher Chris Cullen dropped a throw home by outfielder Gene Cone that would have recorded an out and kept a run off the board.

“We didn’t keep the ball in the infield on some balls we should have kept it in the infield on,” Holbrook said. “We just didn’t do a good job of eliminating the damage and keeping the ball in the infield. It didn’t show up as errors on the scoreboard, but on my book we’ve got to be tough enough to keep the ball in the infield.”

Tolbert later committed an error in the fifth inning on a dropped fly ball in foul territory, and relief pitcher Tyler Haswell also committed an error later in the game.

USC was unable to do anything offensively until the game was out of hand. Carolina managed one run on four hits off Georgia starter Connor Jones, who entered with a 5.73 ERA.

“I think as a defense we could have made some plays, but we didn’t do enough offensively to answer that eight-run third inning,” Arendas said. “As bad as things went today we have a chance to win the series tomorrow, so that’s got to be our focus.”

The Gamecocks got on the board in the seventh inning when Arendas hit a two-out RBI single to center. Carolina added three runs in the ninth as Arendas had an RBI groundout and Gene Cone extended his hitting streak to 22 games with a two-run homer to right.

South Carolina was without starting shortstop Marcus Mooney, who injured his hip sliding in Friday’s game. Leading hitter Alex Destino left Saturday’s game with a hamstring injury. Holbrook is unsure if either will be available on Sunday.

THREE POINTS

Star of the game: Michael Curry: Georgia’s catcher went 4-for-5 with a home run, four runs scored and two RBIs to lead the Bulldogs offense.

Play of the game: With the bases loaded and one out in the third, Georgia led 3-0 when second baseman LJ Talley hit a grounder to USC first baseman LT Tolbert’s right. Tolbert was unable to get in front of the ball and make the play as Talley singled to right. Right fielder Gene Cone came up throwing and his throw beat Daniel Nichols to the plate, but Chris Cullen dropped the ball allowing another run to score.

Stat of the game: 19: The 19 hits by Georgia were a season high. The Bulldogs also scored a season-high 13 runs. UGA entered the game hitting only .250 as a team.

OBSERVATIONS

Webb in a funk: The freshman was unhittable in starts against Ole Miss and Vanderbilt but has been pounded his past two outings. Webb allowed 20 hits in his first seven starts of the year but has allowed 16 the past two.

Gamecocks struggling with runners on base: South Carolina is batting .183 with runners on base and .167 with runners in scoring position over the past three games.

Defense misses Mooney: Arendas is as good as it gets defensively at second base, but he doesn’t have the range Mooney does to make plays up the middle or plays in the hole.

NEXT

What: South Carolina vs. Georgia, Game 3

When: 1 p.m. Sunday, April 17

Where: Foley Field (Athens, Ga.)

Probable pitchers: USC – Adam Hill (Fr. RHP) UGA – Bo Tucker (So. LHP)

Watch: SEC Network Plus

Radio: 107.5 FM in the Columbia area

This story was originally published April 16, 2016 at 9:25 PM with the headline "Georgia thumps Gamecocks 13-4 to even series."