Thomas Farr entered the eighth inning pitching a gem and South Carolina locked in what was a nip-and-tuck ballgame with Old Dominion with the winner getting the driver’s seat in the regional.
Farr—who had been plagued by walks in previous starts—only had one walk through the first seven innings of the game.
He’d issue two in the eighth, one with the bases loaded that proved to be the game-winning run as the Gamecocks lost 2-1 to Old Dominion Saturday night.
“The last batter, you look back on it and don’t really regret it. Yeah you threw a ball but late in the game you just have to dig deep. I missed it by an inch. You learn from it, you move on and do better next time.”
South Carolina had their chances offensively but could only muster just one run off starter Ryne Moore, who stitched together seven innings of one-run ball, allowing three hits and striking out eight.
The Gamecocks got the tying run in the fourth thanks to a sacrifice fly from Joe Satterfield and would put runners on in three of the final five innings, with the best chance coming in the seventh.
They’d put two runners in scoring position with one out thanks to a leadoff single and hit batter followed by a sacrifice bunt.
That set the stage for Andrew Eyster, who would work a 2-2 count and be rung up swinging with the first base umpire saying he went around, prompting words from Kingston.
“We get no explanations on those plays,” Kingston said. “I can’t really answer that question because if I do I’ll hear from the powers that be.”
They’d load the bases after that before Josiah Sightler just missed a go-ahead single thanks to a nice play from left fielder Kyle Battle.
South Carolina (34-22) would ultimately strand 10 runners Saturday night and go hitless in 13 at-bats with runners on, five of which came with a runner in scoring position.
“It could have gone either way. We had plenty of chances,” Kingston said. “It could have easily gone our way instead of Old Dominion’s. Credit them. Their pitchers made a lot of pitches but it could have easily gone our way.”
The offensive performance wasted what was one of Farr’s best outings of his career against one of the best offenses in baseball, allowing two runs and scattering five hits over 7.2 innings.
“I’m disappointed for him because he deserved much better. Just very disappointed for him. He was everything we wanted him to be tonight. He had his stuff again,” Kingston said. “I’m disappointed he has to go home disappointed tonight along with everybody else. He deserved much better than that.”
Farr (3-7, 3.74 ERA) would pitch out of jams over the last few innings and couldn’t in the eighth after giving up two singles to start the inning.
He’d get two quick outs before the Gamecocks opted to walk Matt Coutney, who homered earlier, to get to Tommy Bell, hitting over .340 for the season to try and get the final out.
Farr would fill the count before walking him, which plated the eventual tying run.
“Farr was pitching much too well to take him out at that point. At that point it was his game,” Kingston said. “There wasn’t much concern he wouldn’t be able to throw strikes there. The ball got away from him on a 3-2 count. To me it was a very easy decision…It was the right decision but just didn’t work out.”
The loss sends South Carolina to an elimination game at noon tomorrow against Virginia and will now need three straight wins over the next two days to advance.
“It’s going to get a little harder to get through a regional but it’s not impossible. It’s a double elimination tournament and we lost one game,” Kingston said. “We’re still alive. Our guys need to come out tomorrow ready to go.”
