After another close loss in the series opener, South Carolina faced Mississippi State in Game 2 of a 3-game SEC series Saturday afternoon at Founders Park. The Gamecocks had a 7-6 conference record with Wil Crowe on the mound. How did the Gamecocks fare?
FINAL: Mississippi State 5, South Carolina 4.
LINESCORE
MSU (25-12): 001 000 103 = 5-8-1
USC (21-13): 002 000 002 = 4-8-1
WP – Trey Jolly (2-1)
LP – Wil Crowe (3-3)
SV – Spencer Price (13)
HR – USC, Carlos Cortes 2 (3rd, 1 on., 9th, 1 on); MSU, Luke Alexander (2nd, none on).
RBI – Carlos Cortes (4)
LOB – USC 9, MSU 4
A – 7,708
Time – 3:24.
Gamecock Pitchers: Wil Crowe (8.0, 112 pitches), Colie Bowers (1.0, 17 pitches)
HIGHLIGHTS
-- Couple of lineup changes for the Gamecocks: Chris Cullen moved to first as Hunter Taylor got an opportunity to play behind the plate. Additionally, LT Tolbert slid over to shortstop to replace the struggling Madison Stokes with Justin Row inserted at second base.
-- The top of the first ended with some fireworks as a Mississippi State runner sought to score on a double to left-center, but a perfect relay throw by shortstop by Tolbert nailed him at the plate. The runner was initially called out. When MSU argued Taylor impeded the path of the runner, the umps conferred and reversed the call, allowing the run. But then they went to video review (probably what they should have done initially) and reversed themselves again, ruling Taylor had not impeded the runner. That’s 8-6-2 if you’re scoring at home.
-- After a couple of long flyouts by the Gamecocks in the bottom of the first, a F-9-3 double play neutralized a leadoff walk in the top of the second. The Gamecocks had runners at first and second with one out in the bottom of the second, but a strikeout and flyout ended the inning.
-- Both teams scored in the third. MSU got a leadoff homer from Luke Alexander to take a brief 1-0 lead. Minutes later, USC freshman Carlos Cortes did him one better with a two-run bomb far over the right field fence to give the Gamecocks a 2-1 lead. The homer was Cortes’ second of the year as he continued to see his batting average climb following a slow start at the plate.
-- After Crowe cruised through the fourth and fifth innings (2-4 caught stealing ended T5), the Gamecocks threatened in the bottom of the fifth, loading the bases with two outs on a single, stolen base and two walks (second as intentional). Tolbert, USC’s leading hitter with a .330 average coming into the game, stepped to the plate and grounded the second pitch directly at the MSU second baseman, who was playing on the grass in short right. The 3 LOB increased the Gamecocks’ LOB total to 7 for the afternoon.
-- After a quiet sixth inning for both teams, the top of the seventh began with an error by Gamecocks 1B Chris Cullen, who muffed a throw by SS LT Tolbert. The error proved costly as the next Bulldog batter drove a double into the LCF gap, allowing the MSU runner to score all the way from first base. A groundout moved the runner to third. With the Gamecocks infield playing in, Crowe got what he needed, a grounder right at Tolbert for the second out. Another 6-3 groundout ended the inning with the go-ahead run 90 feet away.
-- Crowe came out for the ninth inning, but exited after three singles, two in the infield, loaded the bases. Colie Bowers replaced him. With the infield playing in, the first MSU batter he faced bounced a grounder towards the hole. Jonah Bride fielded it, but had no play at home. From his knees, he threw to first for the out. Moments later, Bowers uncorked a wild pitch to score another run. The third run scored ona single to RF, but Olson fired home to nail the trailing runner, keeping the score at 5-2 going to the bottom of the ninth.
-- Cortes walloped his second homer of the day in the bottom of the ninth, a 2-run shot over the wall near the Gamecock bullpen, to close the gap to 5-4, but the next two batters grounded out (Williams) and flied out (Destino) to end the game, handing the Gamecocks another frustrating 1-run loss.
HOW THE RUNS SCORED:
MSU 3rd – Alexander homered to left field (RBI), Stovall struck out swinging, Mangum grounded to pitcher, Rooker popped to short. 1 RUN, 1 HIT (MSU 1-0).
USC 3rd - Olson singled to left, Cortes homered to right (2 RBI), Cullen flied to center, Destino popped to first, Bride lined to left. 2 RUNS, 2 HITS (USC 2-1).
MSU 7th - Brown reached on muffed throw by 1B (E3), Vansau (PH) doubled to left-center (RBI), Lovelady grounded to short, Poole grounded to short, Alexander grounded to short. 1 RUN, 1 HIT (TIED 2-2).
MSU 9th - Gridley singled to third, Brown singled up the middle, Vansau singled to pitcher, <Bowers for Crowe>, Lovelady grounded to third (RBI), Poole intentionally walked, Brown scored on wild pitch, Alexander struck out swinging, Stovall singled to right (RBI) and Poole thrown out at home (9-2). 3 RUNS, 4 HITS (MSU 5-2).
USC 9th - Row fouled out to first, Olson walked, Cortes homered to right (2 RBI), Williams grounded to second, Destino flied to left. 2 RUNS, 1 HIT. GAME OVER (MSU 5-4).
