Kaczmar homers twice, but Gamecocks drop middle game as pitching struggles

Amidst the revolving door that is the top of South Carolina’s lineup, Henry Kaczmar has remained at the bottom of the order. It’s not that head coach Paul Mainieri hasn’t thought about moving him up. But why mess with what’s been working?

Hitting out of the nine-hole on Saturday, Kaczmar homered twice in his first two at-bats as the only real run support in the Gamecocks’ 11-4 loss to Mississippi State.

Kaczmar, who was hitting a measly .208 on March 12, has since raised his batting average to .295 after recording a hit in 10 of his last 12 games. He led off the third inning with a solo homer out to centerfield on the first pitch he saw from Bulldogs starter Evan Siary. The junior shortstop took him deep again in the fifth for a two-run shot to drive in three runs on the day.

“I just feel like anybody in the SEC is gonna be good. The pitching staffs have been nothing short of incredible, great competition,” Kaczmar said. “So I feel like, for me, it’s just been trying to keep it even shorter, you know, let them supply the power, get back to the basics and and just be that kind of contact type of guy I am.”

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Naturally, after hitting two homers this early in the game, Kaczmar had a chance to go deep for a third time, something that hadn’t been done since 2021. However, with the shift on in his third at-bat, he decided to lay down a bunt. While it was a decent bunt, he was thrown out at first, which led off the seventh for the Gamecocks.

“I saw where the third baseman was playing. He was all the way towards short. So I felt like, why not?” Kaczmar said. “I trust my bunting form. I know I can get a bunt down. So I tried it, but the pitcher made a good play on it.”

With Mainieri unaware that was the case, he wished Kaczmar had told him about it going into the at-bat.

“I would have told him, I don’t think we should do that, especially off a pitcher that has the delivery that Hungate has,” Mainieri said. “You kind of need your left-handers to hit that guy, because he’s more difficult on right-handed hitters. He practices that every day. And I guess he felt that the third baseman was playing way over. But for that to work, he’s got to get it past the pitcher.

“I would have preferred him to swing the bat, but he just made a decision there. And hey, I’m not going to second-guess him. He practices it every day for when they put the shift on him. Just probably wasn’t the right time.”

It came at a point in the game when South Carolina (19-13, 2-9 SEC) was already down by five runs and not receiving much help from the pitching staff. Jarvis Evans Jr. gave up six runs in 2.2 innings of work as his command suffered by falling behind in the count. He only walked two batters, but both came in the third to load the bases with two outs, which led to the Bulldogs plating three runs.

Every reliever who came in after Evans also gave up a run at one point in their outings. After 2.1 innings of one-run ball from Cooper Parks, Mississippi State slugged home runs off of Parker Marlatt, Aydin Palmer and Zach Russell. The Bulldogs launched five home runs in the win.

“Our starting pitching performance was very poor. Poor control, and then we fall behind in counts. When they threw it over the plate in hitters’ counts with the wind gailing out, they hit five home runs,” Mainieri said. “So you can’t be pitching behind in the count, and if you walk batters and then give up a home run, it all adds up. It was just a poor pitching performance on our part today.”

Aside from Kaczmar’s two-homer day, the only other offense the Gamecocks got came from Blake Jackson, who hit a solo shot in the fifth. This would be their final hit of the game as they went hitless against reliever Chase Hungate over the final 4.2 innings.

“His ball was moving a lot. His heater was moving a lot, and he was mixing his changeup in with it well,” Kaczmar said. “That’s a good pitching staff, good team over there. So we’ve got to come out and get them tomorrow again.”

Up next: South Carolina will look to win the series in the rubber match on Sunday. First pitch is at 2 p.m. on SEC Network Plus. The Gamecocks haven’t named a starting pitcher at this time.

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