Georgia rides 4 home runs to Sunday victory, series win over USC

South Carolina closer Josh Reagan had allowed one run all year entering the eighth inning of the series finale against Georgia, but the Bulldogs scored two on back-to-back swings to clinch the series Sunday afternoon.

Daniel Nichols and Stephen Wrenn hit consecutive solo homers with one out in the eighth inning to lift Georgia to a 5-3 win over the Gamecocks.

The series loss is the second SEC series loss of the year for USC, and the Gamecocks have now dropped three of four games.

“This league is very, very difficult. There are challenges every single weekend. Any time you go on the road it’s tough,” Carolina coach Chad Holbrook said. “The disappointing part is we put ourselves in a good position with winning on Friday, then you put yourself in a good position to win today with a rested bullpen and the ball didn’t stay in the park.”

USC falls to 29-8 (11-4 conference) and is now tied with Florida at the top of the SEC standings. Carolina entered the weekend with a two-game lead in the conference.

“We’re fine. We’re good. We’ve beat better teams than them. We’re good,” Reagan said. “They took that one from us, but we’ll be fine.”

South Carolina held a 3-2 lead entering the bottom of the seventh when Mitchell Webb hit a solo home run off setup man Tyler Johnson with one out.

Georgia finished with a season-high four home runs, a day after posting a season-high in hits and runs.

USC outhit Georgia 9-8 and put 14 runners on base, but managed just three runs. Carolina was 4-for-20 with runners on base and 2-for-12 with runners in scoring position.

“We had to work our tails off to scratch a run here or a run there,” Holbrook said. “It didn’t seem like they had to work so hard to score their runs because they popped it out of the park.”

Alex Destino and Marcus Mooney both played despite battling injuries. Mooney injured his hip while sliding Friday night, and Destino tweaked his hamstring on Saturday.

Destino led USC at the plate, going 2-for-4 with a double and two RBIs before leaving in the seventh inning.

“I definitely was pressuring coach to let me play,” he said. “I felt good today, ready to play, just kind of my adrenaline had me going through the whole game so that helped.”

Gene Cone and Jonah Bride each added two hits, and Cone scored three runs. The junior extended his hitting streak to 23 games thanks to two singles.

South Carolina faces Furman in Greenville on Wednesday and has back-to-back home SEC series against Missouri and Florida upcoming.

THREE POINTS

Star of the game: Webb: The No. 9 hitter in Georgia’s lineup went 3-for-4 with a double, a homer and two RBIs. His solo blast in the seventh tied the game at 3.

Plays of the game: LT Tolbert was on second base for each of DC Arendas’ first three at-bats, but Arendas struck out with the freshman in scoring position all three times.

Stat of the game: 27-0: South Carolina is 27-0 when leading after seven innings and held a 3-2 lead in the seventh before Johnson allowed the home run.

OBSERVATIONS

Georgia knows its park: Three of the four home runs were hit to right field where it is 314 down the line.

Gamecocks staying positive: The message from Holbrook and his players after the game was that USC is still in good shape overall.

Destino showed guts: The left fielder was clearly less than 100 percent but went 2-for-4 with two of USC’s three RBIs and made a sensational diving grab to keep a run from scoring in the second inning with a runner on second and two outs.

NEXT

What: South Carolina vs. Furman

When: 7 p.m., Wednesday

Where: Fluor Field (Greenville)

Probable pitchers: USC – Taylor Widener (Jr. RHP); Furman – TBA

Radio: 107.5 FM

This story was originally published April 17, 2016 at 3:53 PM with the headline "Georgia rides 4 home runs to Sunday victory, series win over USC."