Josh Reagan was bowing his neck. He was staring down runners on the corners with two outs. He got what he needed—a soft fly ball to left— but Alex Destino dropped the ball and a one-run deficit became a three-run chasm.
It was the second error of the inning with the first coming on a fielding error. Jonah Bride dropped a throw from Josh Reagan trying to gun a runner out at third on a bunt.
“That’s a play I need to make. Bottom of the ninth down one is a lot different than down three. Personally, I’m pretty upset,” Alex Destino said with tears in his eyes. “But baseball’s all about bouncing back. That’s the beauty of this sport. We get to play tomorrow. I’m going to wear this one tonight. Obviously that’s unacceptable on my part.”
Those errors, plus another in a four-run second inning for Mississippi State would spell doom for the Gamecocks, who dropped the first game of the series 5-4 Friday.
The first error came in the second inning when LT Tolbert dropped what would have started an inning-ending double play. Every runner would be safe and four runs would cross the plate in the inning.
The Gamecocks tied a season-high with three errors which was set March 31 in a loss to Auburn.
“Sometimes pitches don’t go your way, errors don’t go your way. You have to slow the game down and work through that,” starter Clarke Schmidt said. “Stuff like that is going to happen, it’s baseball; it’s a tough game. We got to do a better job of adjusting early on.”
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Schmidt, who gave up five runs in the first two innings, would settle down and have one of his signature starts after the second inning. He retired the last 19 batters he faced, pitching six scoreless innings to end his outing.
He struck out 11 total batters, one away from tying his career high set against Michigan State on March 10.
“He was special from the third inning on; he was dynamite. That being said, the four run inning there wasn’t a four run inning if we make a play there,” head coach Chad Holbrook said. “Right now, when we don’t make a play, the other team capitalizes on it. It’s the trend we’re in right now."
Schmidt finished giving up five runs on five hits with 11 punch-outs and just one walk. Four hits and the walk came in the second inning. Of his five runs given up, only two were earned.
The Gamecocks gave up only two earned runs to the Bulldogs Friday, with both runs in the ninth unearned because of Destino’s fielding error.
Over his last two starts (15 innings), Schmidt’s given up seven runs on 10 hits. He’s struck out 22 batters and has an 11-to-1 strikeout to walk ratio. Of the seven runs given up, only four have been earned.
He’s 0-1 in those starts with the loss coming Friday against Mississippi State. He was credited with a no decision against Vanderbilt.
“I don’t think that’s anyone else’s fault. That’s my fault. Good enough isn’t enough. I have to do better,” Schmidt said. “I hold myself to a higher standard, so I want to be perfect every time I go out there. I thought I should have done a better to keep my team in the game, but I went out there and competed after that.”
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Schmidt, facing one of the best hitters in the country in Brent Rooker, didn’t blink. After giving up a one-out homer to the first baseman hitting .450, Schmidt didn’t allow him to get a hit the rest of the game, striking Rooker out twice.
The junior righty threw a season-high 114 pitches after laboring through the second inning. He came back out to face Rooker in the 8th inning, and when he got him out with one pitch, it was Schmidt’s inning to finish.
He even waved off pitching coach Jerry Meyers who started out of the dugout to make a pitching change with two outs in the ninth.
“He wanted to come get me—I think it was a lefty to finish the inning—he wanted to come get me and for Josh (Reagan) to get him,” Schmidt said. “At that point in time, it was my game still. I wanted to go out there and get that last guy.”
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This is the Gamecocks’ (21-12, 7-6 SEC) sixth loss by one run this season. Three of their last four SEC losses have been by one run, and the other loss was by just two runs.
They’ll try and bounce back tomorrow against Mississippi State with Wil Crowe, who moves back to his Saturday starter spot, on the bump tomorrow. First pitch is scheduled for 4 p.m. on SEC Network+.
“It’s a tough loss, but our morale is still up; we’re a very talented team,” Schmidt said. “We can win a lot of games. There’s a lot of ball left to be played. The mood is still positive.”
