Gamecocks "hit in the gut' in first home loss of season
Four outs away from the statement series win of the season, South Carolina’s rock-solid bullpen finally cracked.
The Gamecocks built up a 4-0 lead in game two against LSU off the strength of four walks and three hit batters, but ended up coughing up the lead for their first home loss of the year after lead-off walks in the eighth and ninth.
No. 1 LSU tied the game in the eighth inning after two walks helped load the bases and Gavin Dugas crushed a grand slam out to left field off Cade Austin, then won the game 8-7 when Dylan Crews drew a lead-off walk in the ninth and came around to score on a Cade Beloso RBI single.
"Cade's been there for us a ton and he's helped us win a ton of games," Mark Kingston said. "It just wasn't his day today. We have his back, and we'll be very eager to go to him the next time he gets that opportunity."
The Gamecocks took the lead early with four runs in the second inning behind a pair of bases loaded hit-by-pitches to Gavin Casas and Ethan Petry followed by a two-run double by Cole Messina. However on the double South Carolina had a crucial mistake that would come back to bite later, an ill-advised send by third base coach Scott Wingo that led to Petry getting cut down at home plate by about 20 feet.
LSU (26-5, 7-4 SEC) put three runs back on the board in the fourth inning off Jack Mahoney with a pair of home runs by Tommy White and Jordan Thompson. It was the only patch of trouble Mahoney had all day around his seven strikeouts in four innings, but it was enough to get the Tigers back in the game.
And while South Carolina did re-store the three-run lead, it came with what became the theme of the day — missed opportunities.
With a 6-3 lead and the bottom of the fifth, the bases loaded and nobody out, Michael Braswell grounded into a 6-4-3 double play. It plated a run, but it kept LSU within one swing of the bat. Two innings later the Gamecocks failed to push a run across with the bases loaded and one out but did not score, again leaving just enough of a a crack in the door open.
And a crack was all LSU needed. Two of the first three Tigers greeted Austin with a walk, and then Brayden Jobert punched a two-out single into right field to load the bases for Gavin Dugas. He promptly unloaded the bases with one swing, finally making the Gamecocks pay for all of their missed opportunities early in the game.
"There's a lot of depth and a lot of talent," Kingston said about LSU's lineup. "If you help them a little bit, that's what leads to a four-run inning. That's what happens."
Once the air left South Carolina’s balloon, it ever returned. Crews’ lead-off walk in the ninth turned into the game-winning run when he advanced on a fielder’s choice, a wild pitch and a single, and Gavin Guidry struck out Caleb Denny with two runners on base in the bottom of the 9th to end the contest.
It was South Carolina’s first home loss of the season, and it will set up a rubber match in game three of the series schedule for noon on Sunday, weather permitting.
"Bounce back," Kingston said the message to the team was. "Sometimes you get hit in the gut, but you have to be ready to bounce back. You don't dwell on it because it can build, you just turn the page and move on to the next game."
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