Offensive woes continue as South Carolina gets swept by Clemson

After falling behind early, South Carolina did what it needed to for the Gamecocks to crawl back into the game.

They chipped away at the lead and got good pitching but couldn’t come through late. Clemson pulled away late for a 5-2 win to take all three games against South Carolina.

It’s the first time South Carolina (7-4) was swept by Clemson in a three or four-game series since 1996.

“I thought they responded well today. We demanded they come out and play hard and stay together and they did that. It was a very tight ball game in the eighth inning,” Mark Kingston said. “It was anybody’s ballgame going to the eighth, just like it was Friday. We’re close. We have to stay together. They will, and we’ll keep pushing.”

South Carolina went down three runs in the fourth inning but cut into it over the next two innings with RBI singles from Braylen Wimmer and Carson Hornung.

After Aidan Hunter allowed the three-spot in the fourth before a clean fifth, Matt Becker came in and kept the offense in it with two nearly-perfect innings. He allowed just one base runner and struck out three. One of those punch-outs was of Caden Grice with a runner at third to end the seventh.

He was pulled to start the eighth and Clemson took advantage. Two pitches into Wes Sweatt’s outing Cooper Ingle launched a solo shot to right to push the lead to two runs. He was pulled after a walk and Michael Braswell also allowed the inherited runner to score.

Becker left the game having thrown 32 pitches, 17 for strikes.

“We’re having to play the long game here and not have too many guys throw too many pitches in one outing because we have to bring guys back. We have a lot of games coming up and can’t overuse one guy,” Kingston said. “We also want to get guys out with confidence. He threw really well.” 

The Gamecocks had chances to jump out to a big lead early in the game with John Gilreath pitching three shutout innings to start but couldn’t scratch anything across.

South Carolina put runners on in three of the first four innings but went hitless in its first 10 at-bats when men on base, ultimately finishing 4-for-20 Sunday and stranding 10 in their first test against high-level pitching.

“Man, really frustrating. Especially against guys like these in environments like this,” said Michael Braswell, who went 4-for-5 Sunday. “You can’t dwell on it too long.”

It was also the cap on an anemic offensive weekend for South Carolina, which mustered just six total runs on 21 hits. South Carolina left a total of 26 runners on base and hit 6-for-53 with runners on and 4-for-29 with runners in scoring position.

“We were getting guys on base. We’re not striking out at a high rate but when we get guys on base we have to finish,” Kingston said. “I think we will. We faced a really good pitching staff this weekend. They’re throwing real arms out there right now. we have to respect that.”

Braylen Wimmer, representing the tying run, grounded out to second on a hard-hit ball and the Gamecocks would ultimately not take advantage of another offensive chance late. Wimmer finished the series 1-for-14 with six strikeouts.

“I sure did,” Kingston said about if he thought the ball would get through the infield. “With shifts these days, a lot of balls you’re used to seeing as hits are now outs. He had a tough weekend, but that happens in baseball. They pitched to him well and had a plan against him. It’s going to be up to him to adjust.”

Things don’t get any easier for the Gamecocks, who host Texas next weekend before opening SEC play with a series at Tennessee and home to Vanderbilt.

“You have to pick yourself up and get ready for tomorrow,” Braswell said. “When we play Tuesday we’re 0-0. Let’s keep going 1-0 the rest of the season and hope we can do that.”

Click for Sunday’s box score

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