Amidst team struggles, Nathan Hall continues to rake for South Carolina in SEC play

Nathan Hall came mere inches from making the potential play of the afternoon for South Carolina.

With two outs in the second inning on Sunday, Arkansas catcher Ryder Helfrick swung at the first pitch from Jarvis Evans Jr. and lifted a flyball into the outfield. With the wind blowing out, the ball kept carrying and sent Hall back to the wall where he had a chance to rob Helfrick of a home run. But he ran out of room as it barely went over the fence for a solo shot to put the Razorbacks on the board.

“It was one of those balls that I thought I had time to get under. It kind of just took off,” Hall told GamecockCentral. “I kind of got stuck between the wall, and I jumped up. I think it was absolutely a ball I can catch. That one hurts a little bit, but he put enough of a good swing on it to just hit it out of reach for me.”

Aside from that, Hall put together another solid weekend, especially at the plate. The junior centerfielder was one of the few bright spots in an otherwise rough series for the Gamecocks as they were swept by Arkansas.

Hall picked up a hit in each of the first two games in the series then had a three-hit game on Sunday to close things out. He led off with a solo homer into right field on the second pitch of the game to give South Carolina an early lead.

“My approach as of late has kind of just been to stay right center. I’ve been hooking a lot of balls and pulling a lot of balls on the ground,” he said. “I think being able to kind of follow the approach that Monte (Lee) gives us, which is to stay to the big part of the field and let your swing work, is exactly what I did. And that one did feel good.”

Hall also reached base in seven of his 13 plate appearances over the three games. He leads the team in hitting by a wide margin with a .389 batting average, 32 points higher than the next-best hitter, Ethan Petry, who’s hitting .357 this year.

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Due to how well he’s swung the bat, Hall is now hit safely in each of his last 15 games. He’s still got a ways to go before making a run at Gene Cone’s program-record 31-game hit streak back in 2016. But he’s given the Gamecocks everything they could’ve wanted at the top of the order.

“I like to think that I do a good job leading by example. I try my best to help the guys be confident and get them to believe in themselves,” Hall said. “Because I know what it feels like to have the weight of the world on your shoulders. It’s a tough game. We do our best.”

While Hall has found plenty of individual success, the team as a whole has not. South Carolina is now 1-5 to begin SEC play. Despite how well Hall played, he said it “does really suck” to endure another series sweep. But he’s still fully confident that they can turn the corner and get back on track in due time.

“I’m gonna continue to continue to do everything I can to try and help my team win. I think I fully believe that we have the talent to beat teams like this. I feel like it’s only a matter of time. We need other guys to start believing in themselves,” Hall said.

“Struggles happen. It’s a game of failure. I think we’re going to come around. No one believes in us still. We lose in these situations, makes sense. But as long as we stay positive, I think we can still stay in it.”

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