South Carolina baseball capitalizes on Kentucky mistakes, takes series in 9-4 victory

For the second straight day, South Carolina baseball found itself with the bases loaded against Kentucky. While Saturday’s situation didn’t end like Friday’s grand slam, the Gamecocks still pushed two across.

The runs came unconventionally, too. After a ground ball to third, the Wildcats looked sure to turn a double play. However, the ball missed the first baseman. Suddenly, a chance to get out the side with 0 runs across turned into two quick runs for the Gamecocks.

The innocuous start paved the way to South Carolina’s 9-4 victory over Kentucky, sealing the series victory.

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South Carolina’s start on Saturday began with a hot start from pitcher Brandon Stone. Over the opening three innings, Stone allowed only two hits, including a seven-pitch opening stanza for the right-handed junior.

If a multi-run first wasn’t enough to make Gamecock fans excited, Patrick Evans returned to the lineup after leaving Friday evening’s win following a hit by pitch.

Evans slightly hurt his hand with the hit by pitch, and head coach Monte Lee pulled him on Friday to be safe.

“Fortunately, we had a doctor here. [They] x-rayed his hand, no break. So I think that just gave him mentally, the thought process of ‘If I can deal with the pain, I’m going to be okay.”

After starter Oliver Boone’s struggles for Kentucky, the Wildcats shifted to side-arm righty Ira Austin IV. The senior pitcher quickly delivered the inning-ending out for Kentucky, then continued to control the mound, delivering a 1-2-3 inning in the second.

However, despite a perfect four-batter day, Austin was relieved in the third by sophomore Tristan Hunter. Following the change, the Gamecocks immediately got back in the hit column as Tyler Bak knocked a single to shallow center.

South Carolina’s offense on Saturday came from the Gamecocks being able to work pitch counts. The ability to do something is Lee worked on heavily with the team.

“Just winning pitches. Fighting pitches off. Driving up the pitch count number,” Lee said. “We started a rewards system this week, giving them stickers based on certain things. They love it … Just rewarding them for putting together better at-bats.”

Bak later scored on a wild pitch, as Kentucky’s weird day continued. During the same at-bat, the ball tipped off the bottom of Dawson Harman’s bat.

The junior took off to first, running side-by-side with the catcher. Suddenly, the catcher was in his way, and he was tagged out. The crowd groaned, yelling for an interference call. After a long review, they got an obstruction call instead.

However, Kentucky didn’t like that, challenging for malicious contact from Harman. A quicker review sided with Harman, and a KJ Scobey strikeout ended the side.

Sensing frustration with the extended inning, Stone made quick work of his first two outs in the fourth, recording two in two pitches.

As the clouds that forced Saturday’s start time up rolled in, and blue skies faded to gray, Stone closed the 11-pitch side with his fourth strikeout of the day.

Meanwhile, Kentucky found even more creative ways to allow base runners for South Carolina. After reaching first on a wild pitch following a strikeout, Evans found himself on third following a steal and a wild pitch.

He’d find home plate on a sac bunt from Luke Yuhasz. A double for South Carolina’s first extra base hit of the day scored Randolph.

After four innings, the Wildcats trailed by five with three errors, four wild pitches, and a fielding percentage of .824.

“Good teams make you pay when you make mistakes,” Lee said. ” … Once you start to put pressure on the opponent, you’ve got to take advantage of it. That’s simply what we did today.”

As the game shifted to the fifth, things started to come apart for Stone. The Wildcats’ left fielder Scott Campbell Jr knocked a lead-off double for Kentucky’s first hit since the third inning. A failed fielder’s choice put two on, and as the temperature at Founders Park cooled down, the Wildcat bats heated up.

A sac grounder scored the Wildcats’ first run of the day, and a base hit scored the second. With the tying run on deck, Stone found himself in a bit of trouble. However, a lineout to second got him and the Gamecocks to the sixth. With four through six coming up in the order, South Carolina looked to answer.

They’d draw one back in the side; however, a sixth-inning home run gave it right back. However, Stone’s day continued on the mound.

Lee knew he was approaching a high pitch count. However, he trusted his starter to deliver at least one more inning.

“When he gave up the first homer in that inning, at that point, we started getting [Connor] Chicoli hot. I felt, based on the matchup, that he was a good matchup for [the next couple of batters],” Lee said.

Unfortunately for the Gamecocks, the matchup didn’t work in their favor.

After one out, Scott Campbell Jr knocked a second Wildcat homer to left-center. Stone’s start was enough to earn a standing ovation on his way out. However, it left a mess for Connor Chicoli to clean up with two outs.

Stone left Saturday’s game with 5.2 IP, earning four runs on six hits while striking out four. His only walk came on a hit by pitch.

“Look, you always want to give your starter as much length as you can, as long as you’re throwing the ball over the plate,” Lee said. “But you also have to look at the quality of the pitches and where you’re out in the game … Once he gave up the second homer of the inning, they had back-to-back innings where they had scored some runs, and you can see that he was starting to fatigue a little, so we felt it was time to go get him.”

Chicoli got the quick out as Luke Yuhasz led the home side off with a single. However, two quick outs had Founders Park quiet again.

Talmadge LeCroy’s double off the wall provided the spark — and pulled a run back for the Gamecocks. It’d become South Carolina’s only run of the inning; however, it was the one they needed. South Carolina’s crowd was back in it. After getting out of an eighth-inning jam, the Gamecocks plated two more insurance runs in the bottom of the inning.

As the clouds lifted from gray to white, the blanketed sunshine shone down on a newly .500 South Carolina baseball team, with a chance at its second series sweep of SEC play.

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