The last two weekends, when the Gamecocks needed Brannon Jordan to swing momentum in a series, he’s stepped up and delivered.
Saturday was no different for the right-hander.
Jordan strung together a solid five-inning start as the Gamecocks surged in the middle innings for an 11-1 win over Missouri to even the series and set up a rubber match Sunday.
“It started with Brannon Jordan on the mound and Daniel Lloyd was just as good out of the bullpen,” Mark Kingston said. “It was really good to see the pitching set the tone for us and obviously the 11 runs was good to see.”
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With the Gamecocks’ offense struggling through the first four innings, Jordan kept Missouri’s offense in check, allowing just one run on two hits and striking out eight over his five innings.
Jordan (4-2, 2.89 ERA) did walk four and his lone run allowed came in an inning where he walked two batters and threw a wild pitch, but Missouri hit just 2-for-17 against him.
“He’s hard guy to barrel up and hard guy to square up and get a lot of hits against,” Kingston said. “He continues to give really good outings in the middle of a series when the series has momentum going either way. He’s done a really nice job of getting the momentum to our side.”
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The Gamecocks (20-9, 7-4 SEC) broke through in the fifth with singles from Colin Burgess and George Callil before Brady Allen’s three-run homer to left, his ninth of the season and sixth in SEC play.
“Yeah it was an amazing feeling. I really credit Colin and George getting on before and giving me some momentum,” Allen said. “As they say, hitting is contagious. I just tried to put a good swing on it.”
That sparked the offense with the Gamecocks getting six the following inning with just one hit, using three straight bases loaded walks, a sacrifice fly and two wild pitches.
An offense that’s know for it’s propensity to hit just one Saturday and scored their other eight runs in other ways.
“Aggressive is good but aggressive can turn into reckless and can turn into helping the pitcher get you out cause you’re swinging at bad pitches,” Kingston said. “I thought we did a better job today of swinging at pitches we should swing at and taking the pitches we needed to take.”
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The six-run sixth gave Daniel Lloyd enough breathing room to operate, even though he didn’t need it.
Lloyd motored through four scoreless innings on just 36 pitches—25 strikes—for his first save of the season. He’d scatter four hits with two strikeouts to no walks.
“It was my own moment. I pitched well today,” Lloyd said. “I kind of needed a bounce back from Tuesday. Everything was working for me. I made the joke I threw too many strikes today. Everything was just working.”
His performance gives the Gamecocks’ bullpen a break as they enter Sunday’s rubber match (noon, SEC Network).
No starter has been announced but the two likeliest candidates—Will Sanders and Brett Kerry—are both available.
“We’ll just go based on a lot of things that go into it. Recent history is important, where guys look comfortable is important and how their arms feel right now based on how much they’ve pitched as of late,” Kingston said. “We’ll go down there, see how everyone feels, give our two cents and make a final decision in not the too distant future.”
