Missed opportunities plague South Carolina's offense in series loss to Clemson

South Carolina will be heading home to Columbia after Saturday in a less-than-ideal spot.

The Gamecocks (9-2) spoiled a strong outing from Jake McCoy as Clemson broke a scoreless tie in the sixth inning and went on to win 5-1 on Saturday. With the win, the No. 13-ranked Tigers clinched a Palmetto Series victory in baseball for the second-straight season.

“I know in the SEC, every single game is important. There’s a big difference between 0-3 and 1-2,” head coach Paul Mainieri said. “You’re going to lose some series in the weekend in the SEC, and we did this weekend with Clemson because there are a lot of good teams out there. And every game matters.”

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Both starting pitchers, McCoy for South Carolina and Ethan Darden for Clemson, were at their best and traded nothing but zeroes through the first five innings. The Tigers were able to get on the board first with an RBI double from Cam Cannarella. He proceeded to come around to score with some heads-up base running by going from second to home on a weakly hit groundout.

McCoy had one of the better outings of his college career. Before giving up the two runs that made the difference in the sixth, he was making quick work of Clemson’s lineup. The left-hander struck out a career-high 12 batters and only allowed three hits in six innings of work.

“Stuff felt great. My fastball command was right where I wanted it to be. Slider felt good, too,” McCoy said. “Just filling up the zone was the biggest thing with those guys. Get ahead and stay ahead, and they can’t hit.”

As well as things went for him, he couldn’t garner any run support from his offense. Darden shut down the Gamecocks’ lineup throughout the afternoon, making it through seven scoreless innings. He struck out six and walked two.

South Carolina had its share of chances to push runs across against Darden, though. After Kennedy Jones made a perfect throw to the plate for an inning-ending double play in the top of the first, the Gamecocks had early momentum on their side. They then loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom half of the inning and looked poised to strike first. But their next three at-bats resulted in no runs and three outs to allow Darden to escape unscathed.

“We had a great chance there in the first inning with the bases loaded and nobody out, and we let him off the hook,” Mainieri said. “Heck, I think they were sending somebody to the bullpen already that early, and we just didn’t finish the inning. Gave him a lot of confidence, and he threw a lot of strikes, and we just didn’t meet the challenge.”

With Darden already off to a great start in 2025, this missed opportunity allowed for him to reset and pitch more like he had been through his first two starts. He retired the next nine batters in a row before allowing his second hit of the day in the fifth. But the Gamecocks couldn’t do anything more than that.

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South Carolina found itself back in an ideal spot to open the sixth. It got a big break when Ethan Petry grounded to second for what looked to be a double play. On the play, though, the ball hit to Tigers’ second baseman Jarren Purify went out of his glove as he tried to tag Nathan Hall.

Following a fielder’s choice, the Gamecocks had runners on the corners with two outs, but just like before, they couldn’t cash in. Talmadge LeCroy struck out looking as another zero was posted on the scoreboard.

Just like on Friday, South Carolina didn’t hit well in key situations. The offense went 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position and 1-for-8 with two outs.

“The bottom third of our order really hasn’t produced much at all. Even some of the guys up in the order have had a little bit of a tough time,” Mainieri said. “The pitching we’ve faced the last two days is good pitching, and we’re gonna face a lot of good pitching the rest of the year. So we’re gonna have to find some innings somewhere. You just can’t get five or six hits in the ballgame and no clutch hits.”

After Darden came out of the game at the start of the eighth, Petry blasted a long solo shot off Drew Titsworth to give the Gamecocks their first run of the day. Even with how much the bats had been struggling, this was now just a one-run game entering the ninth.

However, Clemson was able to create the separation it needed, plating three runs on three hits to build a four-run cushion and hold on the rest of the way.

Up next: South Carolina will look to avoid being swept by Clemson as the series shifts over to Founders Park on Sunday. First pitch is at 5 p.m. on SEC Network Plus. Mainieri said Dylan Eskew (0-0, 2.57 ERA) will be ready to go as he will get the ball in the series finale.

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