Mark Kingston reveals what changed for South Carolina late vs. LSU

On Tuesday, the South Carolina Gamecocks baseball team survived their tournament-opening, single-elimination contest against Georgia. That earned the six-seed Gamecocks their Wednesday matchup with the three-seed LSU Tigers. The contest between the two SEC powers was tightly contested early before the Tigers went on an offensive tear to secure a 10-3 victory. After the game, South Carolina head coach Mark Kingston was tasked with trying to explain where things went wrong for his Gamecocks late against LSU.

“For the first half of that game, it was a really good ballgame,” said Kingston. “Both teams were pitching well, playing good defense. There were no errors in that game today, and it was close.”

LSU took a 2-0 lead into the fifth inning, which is where South Carolina drew closer, scoring one run in the top of the fifth. When it was the Tigers’ turn at bat in the bottom of the inning, their bats came alive, scoring four runs. That gave LSU a 6-1 lead heading into the top of the sixth.

“I think when both teams had to go to the bullpen, that’s when it changed. We were very inconsistent out of the bullpen. I thought the guys that came in made some big pitches, but my message to the team afterward was it’s got to be about consistency, what you can show, what you do, but you’ve got to do it over and over.

“And I just thought their guys were a little bit better out of the bullpen, a lot better today, and I think that was the difference in the ballgame.”

South Carolina battled back once again, adding two runs to their score, but that was as close as they would get. LSU would tack on two more runs in the bottom of the sixth and seventh innings, giving the Tigers the 10-3 victory as they advanced to the winner’s side of the tournament bracket.

Starting pitcher Eli Jones was credited with the loss. Jones faced 18 batters over four innings and gave up four runs on five hits with one home run. The South Carolina lefty pitcher did have three strikeouts and a single walk in the game.

With the loss, South Carolina drops into the SEC tournament loser bracket. They will face the Texas A&M Aggies, who lost in extra innings to Arkansas on Wednesday 6-5. The winner of that game lives to fight another day, while the loser will be eliminated from the tournament.