South Carolina saw its six-game winning streak come to an end Friday night in Georgia with the Gamecocks dropping the series opener 5-3.
The Gamecocks (17-7, 4-3 SEC) faltered late, giving up the go-ahead run in the seventh inning and couldn’t mount enough of a comeback for their first win against Georgia since 2017.
They’ve now lost seven straight games to the Bulldogs and will need a win Saturday to avoid their seventh-straight series loss.
“Obviously it’s a good Friday night game in the SEC,” Mark Kingston said. “We came up short. Both teams pitched well. We just weren’t quite as sharp out of the bullpen and on defense late in the game and that was the difference.”
South Carolina jumped out to an early lead in the fourth thanks to a three-run homer from David Mendham, his second of the season, but struggled to do much offensively after that.
Meanwhile Georgia was able to chip away and score five unanswered runs to end the game, including the tying and go-ahead runs in the seventh inning off Andrew Peters.
Thomas Farr had a scrappy outing, giving up two runs on six hits with seven strikeouts. He didn’t allow a walk, but did get pulled with one out to go before getting through six full innings.
Instead Julian Bosnic came in and struggled in a third of an inning, allowing a run on two hits before Andrew Peters (2-1, 2.18 ERA) came in with a runner on second in the seventh.
Georgia loaded the bases on him with a walk and a fielder’s choice before Riley King delivered with a two-run seeing eye single to plate two runs and give Georgia a lead it held the remainder of the game.
A George Callil fielding error gave Georgia one more insurance run in the eighth.
“Farr bounced back really well with no walks and seven strikeouts," Kingston said. "I’m disappointed we couldn’t be better behind him.”
The Gamecocks did put guys on base—seven over the final five innings—but didn’t scratch across another run the rest of the game.
They almost tied things up in the ninth, putting runners on the corners with two outs but Josiah Sightler, representing the go-ahead run, popped up to third base to end the game.
Mendham, who had the biggest South Carolina hit of the day finished 1-for-4, but the Gamecocks hit just 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position Friday night and stranded nine runners.
“(Mendham’s) done a nice job. He’s kind of gotten his swing back, he’s taking good at-bats right now,” Kingston said. “The more hitters we can get hot at the same time the better this lineup will be.”
The loss halts the Gamecocks’ six-game win streak and four-game win streak in league play.
It’s also the third straight series opener the Gamecocks have lost to Georgia with the last coming in 2016 in Athens on a Clarke Schmidt complete game.
Game two of the series is Saturday at 2 p.m. with Brannon Jordan (2-2, 2.70 ERA) on the bump for South Carolina.
“This team will be ready to go. They’ll bounce back. They fight,” Kingston said. “They’ll always do. There are no concerns about that."
