South Carolina struggles to touch Alabama's Fay in series-opening loss

Upon returning from LSU, all South Carolina wanted to do was leave behind a rough weekend in Baton Rouge. But one thing that followed the Gamecocks back home was their ongoing offensive struggles, an issue that hasn’t gone away throughout this season.

After scoring just four runs in four games last week, South Carolina didn’t fare much better in its first game back at home, falling 8-3 to No. 19 Alabama on Friday.

“Give Alabama a lot of credit, played a great baseball game. They jumped on us early, put together the big inning in the second,” interim head coach Monte Lee said. “They pitch, they hit, play good defensively. They played a complete game, and they deserve to win.”

Alabama right-hander Tyler Fay, who notably pitched a no-hitter against Florida on March 20, mostly had his best stuff going against the Gamecocks (22-28, 7-18 SEC). He struck out double-digit hitters for the third time this season, finishing with 10 by the end of his night.

Fay worked through seven innings and gave up one run on two hits. South Carolina’s lone run against Fay came in the fourth after Talmadge LeCroy opened the frame with a leadoff double, then KJ Scobey drove him in with a two-out RBI single into left field.

“He threw a two-seam fastball and a four-seam fastball. So he’s a really hard matchup for right-handed hitters, because you can’t really sit on one side of the plate or the other,” Lee said. “… He threw a changeup to right-handed hitters, too. You don’t see a lot of guys that can do that. So it’s really kind of a four-pitch mix, I would say, because he’s throwing two fastballs, the breaking ball and the changeup.”

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After those two hits in the fourth inning, the Gamecocks didn’t record another until the start of the eighth, when Will Craddock led off with a single. They went on to score two runs in the inning after adding another hit, though both runs came home on wild pitches that rolled to the backstop.

South Carolina finished with just four hits and struck out 13 times.

“I just think I probably just need to stop talking and start doing. I think that’s probably it,” Lee said on the struggles. “I talk too much sometimes to players. I try to coach my way through things, sometimes with the players, just to try to give them everything I can. I think oftentimes just kind of backing off, sometimes it’s the best thing that can happen.”

Right away, Alabama put together some good swings in the first with a couple of long flyouts, which would eventually lead to a big inning in the second against Amp Phillips. The Crimson Tide broke out for a four-run inning and clubbed two homers, the second of which was a three-run shot after two walks.

“When teams come out and they square the ball up like that in the beginning of the game, it just gives you confidence,” Lee said. “It just gives you confidence as a lineup that, ‘Hey, we’re gonna hit this guy,’ you know, they see their teammates do it, and they feel a lot more confident going up there at the plate. I think that’s just what happened.”

Since pitching eight shutout innings at Missouri on April 10, Amp Phillips has given up at least three earned runs in each of his last four starts, including Friday against the Crimson Tide. Just like his more recent outings since becoming the Gamecocks’ ace, the right-hander encountered some early struggles.

After a few long flyouts in the first inning, Alabama tagged Phillips for a pair of home runs that led to a four-run second. Otherwise, Phillips was fine and didn’t allow another run the rest of the night as he tossed 5.1 innings, giving up four hits while striking out three and walking three.

“I give Amp credit. I mean, good lord, after the second inning, it could have went south quick,” Lee said. “He stayed out there, and he battled, and we got deeper into the ballgame and helped us not have to burn too many guys out of the pen. So he did a good job of competing and staying out there for us.”

Up next: South Carolina will look to even up the series Saturday afternoon. It’ll be Senior Day, with five players set to be honored before the game at 12:30 p.m. First pitch will be at 1 p.m. on SEC Network. Brandon Stone (5-3, 3.94 ERA) will get the start on the mound.

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