HOOVER, Ala. — Another win, but an expensive one.

South Carolina baseball is into the semifinals of the SEC Tournament for the first time since 2017 after taking out Kentucky 6-5 on day four at the Hoover Met, but lost a starter in the process. Third baseman Gavin Casas injured himself on a swing in his fifth inning at-bat against Kentucky pitcher Cameron O’Brien, and later in the game the SEC Network broadcast reported he broke his hamate bone in the process.

The broadcast report said South Carolina (36-22) will conduct X-rays following the game to determine the severity, but it is at least possible the fateful swing was his final one of the season.

If it was, though, he left his team quite a parting gift two at-bats earlier.

With the Gamecocks trailing 2-0 in the bottom of the second after Kentucky’s (40-14) Nolan McCarthy opened the scoring on a two-run double, Casas responded with a towering three-run home run. His moonshot cleared the right field bullpen on the fly and landed deep in the trees behind it, measuring at 430 feet and giving the Gamecocks a 3-2 lead in the process.

"I think I put it out there pretty consistently over the last few weeks about the resolve this team has, the heart this team has no matter what," Mark Kingston said. "And today was just more evidence of what they're made of, and so very happy for them, very proud of them."

On a normal day, grabbing three early runs and only allowing three hits in the first seven innings would have been enough for some smooth sailing. But South Carolina’s horrific Hoover defense showed right back up in the fourth inning, with two errors leading to a pair of Kentucky unearned runs.

The errors from Will Tippett and Casas were the ninth and 10th of the week for the Gamecocks, putting them just two away from tying 1995 Kentucky for the all-time record for most errors by a team in one SEC Tournament. Right there, the game — and therefore the week — could have gotten away.

Kentucky had a 4-3 lead, and the bases loaded for its No. 3 hitter Devin Burkes with a chance to blow the game open. South Carolina summoned Parker Marlatt from the bullpen, the third true freshman to pitch in two days. In every possible way, it was the best outing of his career.

"It's awesome knowing that Coach King and Coach Matt [Williams] trust me big to go out there in a big situation and get a big out," Marlatt said.

A big out to start, and plenty more following.

Before today he had never thrown 37 pitches in an outing. This one had 57. He tripled his career-high in strikeouts by taking it from two to six with zero walks in the process. He only even allowed two hits, and none through his first 3 ⅓ innings of work. And as you would expect with every other number at such a high point, the 11 outs he gave South Carolina were five more than any other performance in his young college career.

This was the type of performance every team needs to win a conference tournament, an unheralded name stepping up to deliver clutch outs and save other arms in the process. He carried the game all the way to the eighth inning, and his offense backed him up.

"What was working for me today was my two priority pitches," Marlatt said. "I throw a big curveball, obviously you guys know that, with a big ride carry fastball. So when I have those two working for me, I'm pretty much unhittable."

Tippett cracked just his eighth career home run to tie the score 4-4, then a parade of free passes made the difference between Kentucky starter Mason Moore and his reliever counterpart O’Brien. Two walks, two hit batters and another walk made it 6-4. Not the most powerful or dominant offense, but enough patience to grind through it.

Marlatt delivered enough outs to deliver the game to Matthew Becker, who finally got some help from his defense behind him. McCarthy scorched a line drive to Ethan Petry at first base which would have tied the game if it got past him, but he snagged the liner and doubled off the tying run at second base.

"I just kind of reacted and it came right to me," Petry said. "And I kind of got a little nervous, so I just flipped it over there underhanded, shortstop style."

Becker handled a 1-2-3 ninth inning, and pushed South Carolina into the semifinals to set up a rematch against LSU at 1 p.m. ET tomorrow.

***************************************************************************

Want 2 months free on your Rivals subscription? Refer a friend and they'll get 50% off their first year while you get 2 months free, and the best part? You can do it as many times as you want. Just use your custom referral link on your subscriptions page (linked above).