Timing is everything in sports, and a performance like this weekend’s was just about perfect for the Gamecocks’ baseball team.
Coming into this weekend having lost their last two weekend series, the Gamecocks turned in their first SEC series sweep since 2019, capped by an 8-5 win Sunday.
South Carolina cranked five homers, four to the opposite field, as they took care of Florida easily to sweep the Gators for the first time since 2006.
“We definitely knew we were close at Vanderbilt for our offense coming together. We took the midweek game and brought it into the weekend,” Brady Allen said. “We have a new philosophy hitting wise and it’s working well.”
It started early offensively with three solo shots in the second inning with Wes Clarke hitting his team-leading 13th on the season with Andrew Eyster hitting his second of the weekend a batter later and Colin Burgess capping the end.
All three were to right field and gave starter Will Sanders some breathing room as he pitched four innings, giving up three runs, two earned.
He’d allow two hits, both home runs, and walk one but struck out six on 59 pitches. It was Sanders’s (4-1, 2.66 ERA) second start this week after getting the nod Tuesday against The Citadel, and he’d pick up the win in both games.
“What we got out of will today was what we hoped to get. We got about 60 pitches in four innings. If you can average 15 pitches an inning that’s about where you want these guys to be,” Mark Kingston said. “They gave us exactly what we needed.”
The Gamecocks would get more insurance over the course of the game but blew the doors open with a four-run sixth inning thanks to a two-run double from George Callil and Brady Allen’s two-run homer, his second of the day.
Allen finished 3-for-4 on the day with two home runs and three RBI, his eighth multi-hit game of the year and fourth time he’s driving in multiple runs. Eyster also had more than one hit for the sixth time this season, going 2-for-3 and scoring two runs.
“They generally say this league the more veteran teams are the better teams, especially offensively,” Kingston said. “Those are guys with big hearts and guys who are fighters. That’s what you have to have.”
Both Eyster and Allen are from Florida and get their first series win over the Gators in their time at South Carolina.
“I was telling the guys and they were asking me if it was like Clemson-South Carolina for some of the home state guys, and yeah it kind of is,” Allen said. “I know a bunch of guys on the team and it was a great win.”
South Carolina’s bullpen was lights out again, starting with Julian Bosnic. After pitching two innings Friday, Julian Bosnic made another appearance in relief and sliced his way through the Florida lineup.
He’d mow through three scoreless, giving up one hit and no walks while striking out five of the 10 batters he faced.
“Well, he was really good. It’s hard to ignore what he did with two great outings,” Kingston said. “This weekend anyway Bosnic was lights out for us.”
The bullpen combined to throw five innings, give up two runs on four hits and strike out eight to just one walk.
The Gamecocks (16-6, 4-2 SEC) picked up their first sweep in the SEC since the 2019 season when they took three games at home against LSU.
It’s their first series win, and sweep, this year over a ranked opponent as well and the Gamecocks have started 4-2 in the SEC, their best start under Mark Kingston and best since starting 5-1 in 2017.
“Coming into today everyone wanted the game three win. We all still battled. We didn’t have the mindset of laying back,” Bosnic said. “We wanted to get on top of them early, which we did. That’s a good feeling to have of a great team win; pitching did it, hitting did it. Overall it was just a great, great team win."
