Phillips' early struggles too much for South Carolina to overcome in loss to LSU

Amp Phillips couldn’t hide the smile on his face. This is what he’s always wanted. This is why he came to South Carolina — to lead the weekend rotation and be the ace of the pitching staff.

The right-hander had served as South Carolina’s No. 2 starter, consistently giving the Gamecocks a chance to win anytime he pitched. But when interim head coach Monte Lee told him last week that he’d be moving up a day to become the Friday night starter, he couldn’t have been more excited.

“I love it. This is everything I’ve ever dreamed of. This is awesome,” Phillips told GamecockCentral, describing his reaction when Lee delivered the news. “… I actually put down one of my goals for the year, which was to be the Friday night starter, so I was really excited for it.”

The results, however, haven’t been the best so far, as Phillips turned in his shortest start of the season last Friday against Kentucky. Then on Saturday, he allowed five earned runs over six innings in South Carolina’s 6-1 loss to LSU in the first game of a doubleheader.

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Phillips got off to a rocky start, as the Tigers scored two runs on three hits in the first four at-bats of the bottom of the first inning. It only got worse in the second, when LSU added three more runs.

Most of the Tigers’ damage came from the top of the lineup. The first five hitters all recorded at least one hit and drove in all six of their runs. Only one hitter in the six through nine spots had any hits on the day.

“I think I just wasn’t throwing enough strikes,” Phillips said. “And then when I was around the zone, I left too much over the plate, and they were punishing it.”

But when it looked like Phillips was heading for another short outing, he settled in and held LSU to one unearned run over the next four innings. He threw 101 pitches to get through six innings, striking out three and walking four with an additional hit-by-pitch.

Phillips and Lee were satisfied with the fact that he was able to make it through the sixth inning and help preserve South Carolina’s bullpen. However, both would have liked to see a better final line and outcome.

“Amp stayed out there in battle for us, got us deep into the ball game and allowed us to keep our bullpen for the most part in order for the next two games,” Lee told GamecockCentral. “Unfortunately, the first two innings didn’t go his way. But hopefully he’s put us in a position where we can be competitive and win this next game here in a little while and see what happens in game three.”

As a consequence of those first two rough innings from Phillips, the Gamecocks found themselves in a hole that was too big to climb out of. Talmadge LeCroy and Ethan Lizama hit back-to-back doubles with two outs in the first inning to open the scoring, but the offense couldn’t find the same magic after that.

LSU right-hander William Schmidt pitched six strong innings, allowing one run on five hits while striking out seven and walking one. Grant Fontenot followed with three hitless innings in relief to pick up his third save of the year for the Tigers, striking out four without issuing a walk.

“I just thought at the end of the day, we didn’t square a lot of balls up,” Lee said. “(Schmidt) started pitching backwards a little bit more early in the game. He was more fastball-heavy than the breaking ball once we scored the run there early. It was more like he was breaking ball early than fastball later. So he changed up his pattern a little bit. … We just needed to find a way to score early to keep us in the ballgame. And unfortunately, we couldn’t do it.”

Parker Marlatt pitched two scoreless innings without allowing a hit after Phillips’ day ended. He was the only reliever to pitch, striking out three and walking one. He hasn’t allowed an earned run since April 7.

“Parker was outstanding for us. I mean, he couldn’t have thrown better,” Lee said. “I don’t know if he went too much to be able to give us something tomorrow. Hopefully, he can bounce back and feel good enough to give us something tomorrow because I thought he threw the ball very well.”

Up next: South Carolina (22-25, 7-15 SEC) will have a brief break before facing LSU in Game 2 of Saturday’s doubleheader at Alex Box Stadium. First pitch will be at 7:30 p.m. on SEC Network+.

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