South Carolina avoids near-disaster to earn series win vs. Morehead State

South Carolina had its foot on the gas and showed no signs of slowing down anytime soon. With a 12-1 lead over Morehead State going into the fourth inning, the Gamecocks looked to be on their way to an easy run-rule victory.

Head coach Paul Mainieri pulled most of his starters after only playing three innings, which seemed to be a fair decision at the time given the circumstances. The odds of anything catastrophic taking place were close to zero. Right?

“(Morehead State was) throwing some relief pitchers that didn’t look like they were going to be able to stop us. And I thought it was going to end up being a seven-inning game. It had the makings. And I wanted to get some guys in the game,” Mainieri said.

“A few guys I wanted to get into the game, but like I said, outside of Cayden (Gaskin), I think all the others have been starters for us. And so I felt confident.”

As the game wore on, it turned out to be the worst move that South Carolina made on Saturday. In the blink of an eye, Morehead State fought back to turn a 12-1 deficit into a three-run game going into the seventh.

To make matters worse, star players like Ethan Petry and Nathan Hall were already out of the game when Mainieri took them out. Others were going to need to step up and finish the game. But for as bleak as things had gotten, the Gamecocks (13-3) held on for a 16-11 series win over the Eagles.

“Listen, I’ve coached a lot of games in my life, and this is not unusual to happen. It’s happened before, and we’ve lost games. So we held on for the win,” Mainieri said. “Unfortunately, we had to use a little bit more of our bullpen than I wanted to. But at the end of the day, like I said, we’re going to go home happy and get ready for tomorrow.”

After falling behind 1-0 going into the bottom of the second, the Gamecocks scored 14 runs over the next three innings. Evan Stone landed the first early blow with a grand slam into left field, his second homer of the week.

The offense continued to swing away in the third, scoring seven more runs, which led to a nearly 40-minute half inning. KJ Scobey ripped a long two-run shot out to left. Jordan Carrion, who went 3-for-5, hit his first of two doubles on the day, which plated another run.

Then, after Morehead State had made two pitching changes, South Carolina scored the final four runs of the frame without any hits. One came on a wild pitch, and the other three runs came via hit by pitch or walk with the bases loaded. Its next two runs in the fourth also came without a hit.

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Jake McCoy, who had only given up one run back in the first, looked to be in control after striking out two batters to begin the fourth. However, he got himself into trouble when he walked two and plunked another to load the bases. Morehead State plated four runs with a pair of two-out hits to bring McCoy’s outing to a close.

The left-hander made it through four innings with nine strikeouts, but he also gave up five runs on six hits with two walks.

“Jake goes back to the tunnel between innings. He doesn’t stay in the dugout, but I went back to talk to him and said, ‘Do you want to get outside and play some catch?’ And he told me he didn’t,” Mainieri said on a conversation he had with McCoy when South Carolina scored seven runs in the third.

“But I’m wondering now if maybe it would have been, I should have forced him to play a little catch, to stay a little bit more loose. I haven’t talked to him or Terry about whether or not the long inning had an effect on him or not. I’m just looking at it in retrospect and thinking it probably did.”

Ashton Crowther’s struggles were equally as bad, if not worse, as the first reliever to come in, starting in the fifth. He gave up six runs, four earned, on six hits with a walk. While Morehead State was all over his pitches, Crowther also didn’t receive much help from his defense. Jordan Carrion made a fielding error on a groundball hit to third. Then, on what should’ve been the final out of the sixth, Will Tippett had a line drive go off his glove, leading to two runs.

The offense scored two more runs in the next two innings to give the Gamecocks a five-run cushion. But it was the efforts of some strong relief pitching that kept the Eagles from gaining any more ground.

Zach Russell tossed 1.1 scoreless innings on just 11 pitches, which kept his 0.00 ERA intact. Coming in to start the eighth, Parker Marlatt retired all six batters he faced and struck out three to close the game out.

“We hung in there and found a way at the end,” Mainieri said. “The last three innings of the game, we had great relief pitching between Zach Russell and Parker Marlatt. And we did what it took to win.”

Up next: South Carolina will go for the series sweep of Morehead State on Sunday afternoon. First pitch is at 1:30 p.m. on SEC Network Plus. Dylan Eskew (0-1, 2.08 ERA) will make the start on the mound.

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