Disaster strikes again in late innings as South Carolina drops 4th straight

It was Déjà vu all over again.

Two days after South Carolina gave up seven runs to Arkansas in the eighth inning of an 11-4 loss, an eerily similar situation took place on Tuesday.

The Gamecocks fought back from a five-run deficit in the middle innings to tie the game up in the seventh. As soon as that happened, though, all the momentum disappeared in the blink of an eye as Luke Stevenson’s second home run soared deep into the night sky.

Zach Russell, who came in from the bullpen to begin the eighth, saw his outing end before it ever really started. The freshman reliever gave up three straight hits, including Stevenson’s go-ahead two-run homer, which would be the difference in the Gamecocks’ 13-8 loss to No. 21 North Carolina in Charlotte.

“Obviously, it was disappointing. We had a great comeback there and tied the game,” head coach Paul Mainieri said. “We were hoping we’d get a bunch of shut out innings for one inning by from a bunch of different guys. Unfortunately, we only got three shutout innings out of nine. We fight back, tie the game, and then walk the leadoff hitter on four pitches in the eighth inning. You just can’t do that against good teams.”

Russell’s struggles couldn’t have come at a worse point in the game. But on a night when Mainieri used 12 different pitchers, most of the bullpen struggled. Seven pitchers gave up at least one run in their outings. Most arms only lasted one inning, if that.

“The plan was what it was. The only deviation we made was to bring (Jackson) Soucie out once we knew there were going to be four left-handed hitters in a row the next inning,” he said. “We thought Soucie gave us a good chance there. But, yeah, no. But as far as using other guys, the plan was one inning each and hand it to the next guy.”

All be told, South Carolina (17-9, 1-5 SEC) surrendered 13 runs on 12 hits while striking out 10 and walking 11. In the last four games, the Gamecocks have allowed 48 runs and 12 home runs.

“You’re facing good hitters. You make a mistake. Good hitters are going to take advantage of that. Again, the wind was blowing out tonight,” Mainieri said. “And you know, it’s not a real big ballpark here. It’s not as small as Arkansas, but give credit to North Carolina. You miss with a pitch and you pay. That’s why they’re one of the top-ranked teams in the country. They got a really good team, and I give a lot of the credit to them.”

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Because of how much the pitching collectively struggled, it wasted a respectable performance from the offense. The Gamecocks took an immediate lead with back-to-back solo homers by Nathan Hall and Ethan Petry to open the bottom of the first. They plated another run in the second on a sacrifice fly before UNC came back to take a commanding 8-3 lead into the last of the sixth.

When it seemed like the wheels were falling off, a window of opportunity presented itself. After loading the bases with no outs to start the inning, four runs came across to make it a one-run game.

In the seventh, South Carolina tied the game at eight as Beau Hollins delivered an RBI double after he fell behind in an 0-2 count with two outs. But the Tar Heels proceeded to score five runs in the following inning to make the comeback effort all for naught.

“If you want to play college baseball at this level, then you’re going to have some down times,” Mainieri said. “We’ve faced some really good teams recently. So that has a lot to do with it. We’ve just got to keep fighting. That’s all.”

Up next: South Carolina will return home to begin a three-game series with No. 1 Tennessee on Friday. First pitch is at 7 p.m. on SEC Network Plus.

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