Two days after getting stifled in the series finale to Charleston Southern, the Gamecocks couldn’t buck the trend in their first action since then.
They’d muster four runs on six hits, dropping their second straight game, a 6-4 loss to Furman Tuesday night.
The loss comes at the heels of a six-game win streak that had South Carolina outscoring opponents 57-8.
“It’s a little perplexing because 36 hours ago we felt really, really good about our offense,” head coach Mark Kingston said. “We were averaging nine runs a game and then we went into a little funk in the last 18 innings. We just have to get back to work, period.”
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South Carolina hitters would struggle all night, picking up six hits and six strikeouts. As a team they’d hit .200 and 2-for-10 with runners on base. They also didn’t have a hit in five tries with runners in scoring position.
Furman starter Trent Alley would go for a career-high six innings, giving up just two runs and striking out four.
“He was working away doing a great job of throwing fastballs, off-speed off the plate,” Madison Stokes said. “And if our approach is to pull it he’s going to win nine times out of 10. So we just have to get back to our approach.”
The Gamecocks fall behind early after some uncharacteristically sloppy baseball, picking up a season-high three errors through the first three innings of the game.
Furman would have a 2-1 lead before Stokes hit a solo home run to knot things up in the third inning. It was his third home run in 13 at-bats in his first game after missing the last five with a hamstring injury.
He’d finish hitting 2-for-4 with two runs scored with his lone RBI coming on the homer.
“It felt good to be back. I put a lot of hours into rehab to be back out there with the guys. I don’t want to rush it because hamstrings are a nagging injury,” he said. “It felt good to get back out there.”
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The tie would last through the sixth inning, when the Paladins would tag closer Eddy Demurias for three runs on four hits to take a lead they would never give up again.
Demurias, who came in for Carmen Mlodzinski after he gave up a single and a walk to two of the first three batters in the seventh, would finish the inning but wouldn’t come back after that.
The junior has given up three hits and four walks in 3.2 innings pitched with a .300 batting average against.
“Eddy’s stuff isn’t quite as crisp right now as what we saw. He’s not getting swings and misses with the slider and they’re on the fastball right now,” Kingston said. “Skylar (Meade) and Eddy will get that figured out.”
Carlos Cortes would try and spark a comeback late, blasting a two-run home run to right field to make it a one-run game but Furman would get a run back in the top of the ninth to put the game out of reach.
The run came after Hunter Lomas hit a batter that looked like strike three, Kingston said. He’d argue to no avail, and the next batter would double him home.
“From my angle, I thought it was pretty darn close to being a strike,” he said. “Number two, I thought there was no effort to get out of the way of the pitch, which is the rule. The umpire saw it different.”
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Player of the game: Carlos Cortes did everything he could to get his team back in it, picking up two RBI on a homer late, but it wasn't enough in the end.
Pivotal moment: In the ninth, Hunter Lomas appeared to strike out the batter for the third out but the umpire said it hit him. The next batter would double to drive in the run.
Up next: South Carolina will host Clemson Friday in the first game of the Reedy River Rivalry. First pitch is scheduled for 7 p.m. with Adam Hill getting the ball.
