Lifeless Gamecocks go down 5-0 to Texas A&M in Hoover elimination game
HOOVER, Ala. — The wheels never started spinning for South Carolina on day three in Hoover. As a result, the regional hosting ones might have fallen off completely.
Facing elimination in Hoover in a game the Gamecocks likely needed to win to keep its chances of hosting an NCAA Tournament regional alive, South Carolina recorded just one hit and lost 5-0 to Texas A&M.
South Carolina (39-19) lost two out of three games at the SEC Tournament and is now just 4-11 in its last 15 games overall, as well as 4-11 in its last 15 against conference opponents. The offense did not push a runner past first base until the eighth inning, and the only hit of the game was a Will Tippett fifth inning single that could have been scored an error.
Justin Lamkin was responsible for South Carolina’s drastic offensive struggles, as Texas A&M’s (34-24) starter turned in a career day. Coming into the game he had a gaudy 11.47 ERA in 24 ⅓ SEC innings and had never thrown longer than 5 ⅓ innings in his career regardless of opponent. He turned in a seven inning, 99-pitch masterclass to completely dominate the Gamecocks, leaving the lineup lost all morning.
"We need to let them catch their breath a little bit and hope that our bats get a little bit quicker because we're a little more rested," Mark Kingston said. "We need to get their minds confident again. Because again, when you struggle like this, there's going to be some bouts with how's my confidence. We're going to have to walk a fine line as coaches of getting back to the basics and making sure we have our foundation taken care of, but also do enough of confidence building through earning it this week of work so that when we take the field on Friday, we look like that team that was there for 45 games."
One notable absence for the Gamecocks was catcher Cole Messina, who missed his first game of the season while still in concussion protocol from yesterday’s foul tip to the mask. That forced Jonathan French into the starting lineup and led to a shuffle at the bottom of the order, but nothing the offense pieced together ever had a chance. South Carolina worked just five three-ball counts in seven innings against Lamkin, a pitcher who came into the game with 25 walks in 50 ⅔ overall innings.
They had five total baserunners against him, with three walks, a hit batter and the Tippett infield hit. And once the Aggies took their first lead in the third inning, it never felt like there was a chance to climb back into the game in the midst of a lethargic performance.
Jack Mahoney started on two days' short rest for South Carolina and continued his strong form with two scoreless innings to start, but ran into trouble the second time through the lineup. With two outs and a runner on first third baseman Trevor Werner ripped a ball deep into the right-center gap. Center fielder Evan Stone briefly had the ball in his glove on the warning track, but collided with the wall at full speed which caused the ball to jar loose from his glove. The result was an RBI triple and a visit from the training staff before eventually staying in the game.
It only took one more inning for Texas A&M to drop the hammer with three more runs on just one hit. Austin Bost’s RBI double down the left field line following back-to-back walks made it 2-0, then an RBI groundout and a sacrifice fly tacked on two more runs to double the advantage.
"I just lost a little gas today," Mahoney said. "Pre-game knew I really wasn't going to have much in the tank as I usually would like, but that's not an excuse. Those two walks, you can't have back-to-back walks to lead off an inning. It's just not acceptable."
Matthew Becker did well to shut the door from there with just one unearned run allowed in three innings, but the offense had no answers. The one brief moment of hope came in the eighth inning when three straight walks loaded the bases for Gavin Casas, but he continued his prolonged slump with a strikeout against Matt Dillard to send the chance begging. Chris Veach returned from his hip injury and pitched a scoreless eighth inning without allowing a hit.
South Carolina will find out if it will host a regional at 8:30 p.m. ET Sunday, with the full bracket and seedings revealed in Monday’s selection show at 12 p.m. ET.
"If you're rewarding the best teams that have earned it since February, what was it, 17th or 18th, then I think you should put the 16 teams that have the most metrics," Kingston said about his team's chances to host a regional. "If the metrics matter, then let's use the metrics. If the RPI matters, let's use it. If the strength of schedule matters, let's use it. If quadrant 1 wins matter, let's use it. If last 10 matters and that's against us, fine. But if you're using it, use it. Use it all. Use it all and come up with the best 16."
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