Good serves up 3 homers in South Carolina's series-opening loss to Tennessee
For a moment, it looked like maybe South Carolina would get out of its funk and start the weekend off strong. Two batters into Thursday’s game Ethan Petry blasted a solo homer into left centerfield, silencing the Tennessee crowd.
But that lead wouldn’t last very long. Tennessee’s offense came out firing on all cylinders and would never relinquish its lead after the third inning. The top-ranked Vols rolled to a 9-3 win over the No. 24 Gamecocks (33-19, 13-15 SEC) in the series opener in Knoxville.
“I know the score doesn’t indicate it, but I thought we played pretty well,” head coach Mark Kingston said. “The defenses both played well, no errors. They had nine hits, we had eight. But they ran the ball out of the ballpark today, like Georgia did last weekend. And that was the difference.”
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Only two pitches into his outing, Ty Good served up a mammoth homer to leadoff hitter Christian Moore, the first of two on the night. That quickly tied the game and began what would be a rough start for the right-hander.
Good only managed to make it through four innings on 89 pitches, another brief outing for the Gamecock starting pitching. He’d serve up two more homers, including a three-run bomb to Kavares Tears in the third to make it a 5-1 deficit. He gave up six runs on five hits.
One of the main issues for Good was his command. He couldn’t seem to find the strike zone consistently as he struck out four and walked four. He threw nearly half his pitches for balls.
“I don’t know if he was too amped up cause he got another start,” Kingston said. “But with Ty, we’ve got to find the right comfort zone for him just so he’s at his best.”
It’s been a rough go of it in general for the starting pitching. The Gamecocks haven’t gotten a quality start since Dylan Eskew pitched 6.1 shutout frames against Kentucky on April 28.
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By the time Good’s night was over, South Carolina sat behind in a 6-1 hole. The Gamecocks wouldn’t get another run until the sixth when Cole Messina cranked a solo homer over the batter’s eye.
Besides that, it was a rough night for the offense. They went 3-for-14 with runners on and 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position. All in all, they struck out 12 times, eight of which came against reliever AJ Causey, who tossed 5.1 innings of two-run ball.
Up next: South Carolina will look to even the series up on Friday night. First pitch is at 6:30 p.m. on SEC Network Plus. The Gamecocks have yet to name a starting pitcher.
