Gamecocks drop midweek game to Presbyterian

South Carolina’s high after taking a series against a top-five Vanderbilt team came to a halt Tuesday night.

The Gamecocks, behind some shaky pitching early and also a struggling offense late, dropped a midweek game 9-6 to Presbyterian.

“There are reasons why. Clearly, there are reasons why. We have guys trying to find themselves pitching on Tuesday and guys pitching on the weekend that kind of know who they are and how to get the job done,” Mark Kingston said. “That’s the biggest thing. We just have guys pitching on Tuesdays still trying to find themselves.” 

Eli Jones and Brett Thomas—each still coming off either full or partial Tommy John surgery—combined to give up three runs through the first two innings. Presbyterian did its damage in the fourth, though.

They’d jump out to a big lead thanks to a three-run inning, forcing the Gamecocks to have to crawl out of an early deficit. The Blue Hose put up three in the inning on just two hits, using three walks from John Gilreath and a Michael Braswell error to take a four-run lead.

“John’s been struggling of late. We need him,” Kingston said. “With the situation we’re in, we need him to be effective and at his best. He’s just not there right now.” 

After pitching put the Gamecocks (12-12, 2-4 SEC) in a hole early, the offense was able to at least comeback and tie things up in the fourth.

They’d get two, two-run singles from Brandt Belk and also Kevin Madden, each with two outs. But as the game progressed, South Carolina couldn’t find a big hit.

The Gamecocks put runners on base in three of the final five innings but didn’t get a run across anything. They’d also finish 5-for-20 with runners on base, 3-for-13 with runners in scoring position.

“Credit their defense. They made a lot of highlight plays tonight. You credit them. They played well in our ballpark. I don’t think we necessarily took a lot of bad at-bats. We had five strikeouts and five walks,” Kingston said. “That’s a good outing. We hit a lot of balls hard and they were there to make plays.”

Their best chance came in the fifth, though.

South Carolina put two runners in scoring position with one out. Talmadge LeCroy lined into a double play to end the threat.

Presbyterian took its final lead of the night in the seventh, putting a runner on thanks to a fielding error. South Carolina couldn’t get him out in a run-down. They ultimately gave up the run, unearned, on a double to centerfield.

Esposito would ultimately turn into the best pitcher of the night, striking out six in two innings with just the lone run given up.

“I thought he did well tonight. He left a slider up for that RBI. That’s a ball you have to bury there. He had been beating them with fastballs. When you go to the slider, you have to put it in a good position,” Kingston said. “He left it up too much. Burgy, probably if he had to take it back would have thrown the ball to first instead of second. But he made a quick decision. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t.” 

South Carolina now has to regroup before going on the road for a three-game series against Missouri starting Friday night.

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