Gamecocks record just three hits in 5-0 loss to Tennessee
The side continued, and is now starting to resemble a full blown collapse.
South Carolina baseball dropped its fourth straight series opener, eighth out of its last nine and 10th of its last 13 games on Friday night at Founders Park in a 5-0 defeat against Tennessee.
The must-win series will now come down to a doubleheader on the final day of the regular season tomorrow, a pair of games South Carolina (37-16, 15-12 SEC) will likely need to sweep to preserve its opportunity to host a regional.
Trouble first arose in the third inning when Eli Jones issued a lead-off walk to Christian Scott, and another walk to Maui Ahuna pushed a runner into scoring position. Hunter Ensley gave Tennessee (37-17, 15-13 SEC) the lead on an RBI single into right, although Jones did manage to wiggle out of a bases loaded jam to hold the score at 1-0 entering the bottom half of the inning.
That strikeout looked like it might tilt some desperately-needed momentum back into the home dugout, but there was none to be had against Tennessee starter Andrew Lindsey.
"He was just off the barrel all night," Mark Kingston said about Lindsey. "It was a good fastball. He threw a cutter, he threw a slider, he threw a couple changeups. It was just a lot of movement, and a lot of really good stuff."
Lindsey was dominant from the jump allowing just three hits — two of them infield singles — all night in 8 ⅓ masterful innings. He struck out five batters without issuing a walk, only even working into five full counts the entire night. In what was a combination of Lindsey’s pinpoint control and more struggles with plate discipline from South Carolina’s offense, the Gamecocks never even got a baserunner after the third inning.
The offensive dam broke in the fourth inning when Tennessee plated three more runs off Jones, starting with another lead-off walk. After the base on balls, Dylan Dreiling deposited the game’s only home run out to left field to add two runs and make it 3-0 Volunteers. Three of the next four batters dropped singles into the outfield, capped off by another RBI knock for Ensley. The sophomore outfielder had four singles in the game batting out of the No. 2 spot in the lineup, more hits than the entire South Carolina registered in the game.
"Sometimes you have to tip your catch to a pitcher," Kingston said. "He imposed his will on our hitters tonight."
Once the score got to 4-0, Kingston decided to conserve the remainder of his bullets for tomorrow. Brett Thomas entered the game for his first SEC outing of the season, Zach Zedalis pitched just his third inning of the entire campaign and Jackson Phipps came on for just his second SEC appearance all year as the back of South Carolina’s bullpen ended up tasked with cleaning up the rest of the game. The bullpen only combined to allow one run, but Lindsey did not allow even the faintest flickers of a chance for a comeback.
Lindsey and reliever Aaron Combs combined to retire 19 straight batters to finish, with Lindsey getting within two batters of joining Arkansas starter Hunter Hollan as the second consecutive opposing starting pitcher to throw a shutout.
Saturday will mark the last two games before the SEC Tournament, with game one of the seven-inning double header starting at 2 p.m. on SEC Network. Chase Dollander will start for Tennessee, while South Carolina did not name a starting pitcher.
"It's a little rut that we're in," Kingston said. "We're playing an incredible schedule. And again, not to be a broken record, but we just need to absorb this, we just need to keep pushing forward and there will be light at the end of the tunnel."
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