Sanders strugggles as Gamecocks drop 8-3 series opener to Auburn
A promising early start for Will Sanders deteriorated quickly as South Carolina’s ace suffered through another concerning outing.
One week after appearing to turn the corner with 10 strikeouts in a dominant performance against Florida, Sanders allowed a career-high eight earned runs in six innings of work as the Gamecocks dropped game one of the home series against Auburn 8-3.
Sanders allowed one run in the top of the first inning when Auburn’s (24-7-1, 8-11 SEC) Casey Stanfield led off the game with a single and came around to score on a straight steal of home, but it looked like Sanders settled in from there.
South Carolina’s (34-7, 13-5 SEC) offense immediately picked the run back up in the bottom half of the inning on an Ethan Petry sacrifice fly, and Sanders sat down nine batters in a row after his first inning struggles to carry a groove into the fourth inning. But all it took was one bloop single to start the unraveling of his night.
Auburn’s Bryson Ware dunked a two-out single into right field to snap Sanders’ streak and register just his team’s second hit of the game, and one pitch later Cole Foster crushed a two-run home run out to right field that gave the Tigers a lead they never relinquished.
It was death by a thousand cuts from there for Sanders, as his fastball struggled to sustain much life and his breaking stuff could not play to its usual effect as a result. He hit Auburn’s nine-hole hitter Nate LaRue with a pitch in the fifth and LaRue came around to score on a sacrifice fly before three consecutive hits for the Tigers added two more runs.
"When he was missing his spots it was pretty consistent," Mark Kingston said about Sanders. "He got in a few grooves where he was making good pitches, and then he got in a few ruts where everything was just missing location, and they hurt him when he did."
By the time he walked off the mound for the fifth inning the Gamecocks were facing their largest home deficit of the season, and that was all too much even for one of the most potent offenses in the nation.
Auburn ace Tommy Vail did not have his sharpest stuff — he walked six batters — but the left-hander’s mix of slow stuff had the Gamecocks befuddled all night. A fastball that topped out at about 89 MPH and a curveball that stayed in the low 70s all night was more than enough to baffle South Carolina’s lineup, as he struck out seven batters in five innings as he claimed his second decision in three weeks as the home team stranded 12 baserunners in the game.
"I think we kind of got lazy and got away from our focus and our approach," catcher Cole Messina said. "I think we've just got to be better tomorrow and stick to the plan."
The revolving door of infield injuries claimed another Gamecock in the seventh inning when shortstop Braylen Wimmer limped off the field with a hamstring injury after coming around first base awkwardly on a groundout. He left the game after the inning, meaning all four opening day starting infielders have picked up an injury in the last month with Will McGillis and Talmadge LeCroy still out of the lineup and Gavin Casas only returning to the lineup from his lung injury on Friday. Kingston did not have a clear timeline for the injury, simply said "we'll find out" regarding his status for tomorrow,
Caleb Denny was a bright spot off the bench for South Carolina, collecting two hits and an RBI as a pinch hitter. Game two of the series is scheduled for 4 p.m. on Saturday with Jack Mahoney starting on the mound for South Carolina.
"He took two really good at-bats today," Kingston said about Denny. "He took the kind of at-bats we saw early in the season. He's been working hard, he's a good team guy and maybe he'll get rewarded like a lot of these guys."
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