South Carolina locks down crucial series victory over Kentucky in run-rule fashion
In the moment, it looked like another clueless mistake by South Carolina. Surely it would come back to haunt them. But they can just laugh about it now.
Locked into a scoreless game in the third inning, Ethan Petry crushed a three-run homer into the visitors bullpen. Or so he thought. As he rounded first on his home run trot, Austin Brinling had retreated back to closer first base thinking the ball might stay in the yard. So Petry, fired up and not looking, accidentally passed Brinling.
“Basically what you had there was a very excited Ethan Petry who saw the ball leave the park and forgot to look at the guy in front of him,” head coach Mark Kingston said. “In the back of his mind, I think he expected that the runner would be well off to second base and that he wouldn’t have to worry about it. I’ve got to look at the video to see where I think the runner should’ve been. But at the end of the day, it’s always the backside runners responsibility not to pass the guy in front of him under any circumstances. He’ll learn from that.”
So instead of a three-run shot, it became a two-run single that cleared the bases. Miscues like these have a way of coming back to bite in the end. But not on Sunday, as the Gamecocks (29-14, 11-10 SEC) picked up a 10-0 win over Kentucky.
The win gives them an all important series victory over a top-five team, further helping their chances of hosting a regional in the NCAA Tournament later this summer.
[GamecockCentral for $1: In-depth coverage and a great community]
In the top of the fourth, it seemed like this mistake might actually come back to haunt them. Kentucky had runners on the corners with one out. However, Dylan Eskew got a tailor-made double play to get out of the jam.
And that would be one of many big plays made by the Gamecock defense on Sunday. It was a big reason why Eskew was able to pitch so efficiently for the second weekend in a row.
“I mean, last week I was walking people and errors tend to come when you bore your defense. Threw more strikes today, kept innings quick, kept the defense engaged. So I think those go hand in hand,” Eskew said.
The right-hander tossed 6.1 shutout innings, marking his longest outing of the year. He surrendered five hits, struck out two and walked one. After giving South Carolina a nice spot start last weekend, he was able to pitch even better this time around with the series on the line.
“He threw strikes today, only had one walk in six-plus innings,” Kingston said. “When he does that with the movement on his fastball, you’ve got a guy that can do what he just did against a top-five team in the country.”
[On3 App: Get South Carolina push notifications from GamecockCentral]
After plating another run in the fourth, the bats really came alive in the fifth. And unlike yesterday, they laid the hammer down and didn’t relinquish their lead.
Following an intentional walk to Cole Messina to load the bases with one out, Blake Jackson ripped an RBI single into left. Kennedy Jones and Dalton Reeves would follow suit with RBIs of their own to quickly make it a 7-0 game.
For Jones specifically, it was a great day at the plate, as he went 2-for-3 with a game-high four RBIs.
“As long as I can hit with runners in scoring position, I think I can help my team,” Jones said. “So I came up big a few times. I don’t think I really tried anything new, I was trying to trust the process and just stay confident. I think that’s the biggest thing as a hitter. When you stay confident, you’ll come up in those situations.”
But that wasn’t all they wrote. After a Talmadge LeCroy hit by pitch, Gavin Casas singled through the right side, bringing home another run. Then, Austin Brinling, who started the rally with a single, picked up his second hit of the inning, this time an RBI single into center. It was now 9-0 Gamecocks.
After Eskew exited in the seventh, Connor McCreery came in and got the final two outs of the day to lock down a run-rule win.
Up next: South Carolina is back in action on Wednesday night to take on East Tennessee State. First pitch is at 6:30 p.m. on SEC Network Plus.
