Sanders shines, South Carolina run-rules Florida to take series opener

Cade Kurland swung through a pitch and Will Sanders sighed as he strode back to the South Carolina dugout. 

Florida put Sanders in a pickle with the bases loaded and just one away. Five pitches after walking BT Riopelle, his second of the inning, Sanders was walking back to the dugout giving up just one run. 

At the moment it didn’t feel incredibly massive. But getting out of a sticky situation with just one run allowed set the tone for a vintage Sanders outing. 

“I thought that was huge, I really do. As crazy as it can sound, getting out of a first inning like that can set the tone for the rest of the game. If he gives up a double in the gap and they score four there it can be an entirely different ballgame,” Mark Kingston said.

“Even when things aren’t going your way, if you can somehow find a way to minimize damage–and only giving up one run in that situation was doing exactly that–the rest of the game it felt like he was really, really good.” 

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Sanders was shaky early, giving up a run and a pair of walks in the first inning, before settling into the best start of his season as the Gamecocks run-ruled Florida 13-3 Thursday.

He’d allow just one more earned run in the final five innings of his start. Sanders gave South Carolina (32-6, 11-4 SEC) six strong innings Thursday, the first time in 13 games a Gamecocks starter has pitched over five innings.

The last time it happened was Noah Hall against Missouri when he went seven innings on March 25. 

“Tonight was a big night for me personally. It’s taken a lot for me to get everything into action,” Sanders said. “Just stay the course. Sometimes I get emotional because I love this team and love this game. I want to win for everybody.”

Sanders (4-1, 4.56 ERA) paired his newly-refined sinkerball with his curveball en route to a season-high 10 strikeouts. 

After two walks and a hit in the first, he walked just one batter the rest of the way and allowed just two hits in the final five innings. Those were back-to-back extra-base hits in the sixth to tie things up. 

“It was a cool feeling. I just gripped it and wherever I threw it they weren’t going to hit it,” Sanders said of his curveball. “If I keep going fast and work fast and throw my pitches with full belief…It gives our defense a chance to stay in it, make cool plays and we win games.”

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Sanders out-dueled Florida’s ace Brandon Sproat, who lasted just 5.2 innings and threw 103 pitches against South Carolina’s grind-you-down lineup. 

The Gamecocks plated four off of him while getting a pair of runs in the first two innings. They’d walked three times while striking out eight. South Carolina chased him after a two-out double in the fifth from Michael Braswell in a tie game.

“Our approach was to shrink the strike zone, swing at pitches over the plate and we did damage on them. He was a little erratic today,” said Braswell, who went 3-for-3 with three doubles. “He still had great stuff. It was hard going up against him in the box. But everything went our way with our approach.” 

Florida’s bullpen would walk five straight batters–three with the bases loaded and a full count–before Ethan Petry delivered his second RBI knock of the night. 

After homering off Sproat in the first inning, Petry busted the game wide open while batting back from 0-2 down to go even. He’d then bloop a two-run single into centerfield to make it a five-run game.

“Look, he loves the big stage and the bright lights,” Petry said. “Some guys get even better in those moments and he appears to be one of those guys.” 

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The Gamecocks bludgeoned the Gators for five more in the seventh while Cole Messina capped the run-rule win with a bases-loaded double.

Will Tippett, in for an injured Talmage LeCroy, walked in the go-ahead run. He also laid down a bunt that ultimately led to two runs thanks to a throwing error. 

The final four hitters in the South Carolina order combined to go 3-for-8 with seven runs scored, four RBI and five walks to just one strikeout. 

“Let’s call a spade a spade: those guys are in there for their defense. Anything they do offensively becomes a bonus,” Kingston said of Evan Stone and Tippett. “We got a bunt down and it turned into chaos. Stone had a sac fly. That stuff is a bonus. Generally, we’ll probably get our offense from the top of the lineup. And the guys at the bottom of the lineup have to play great defense. But when they give you a spark offensively it makes for a night like tonight.”

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South Carolina has now won each of its six game ones in SEC play while doing it tonight by run-ruling the third-best team in the country. 

“Well, we love to play. We’re pretty darn good. If you come to watch us play you’re going to see a team that loves to play and be together,” Kingston said. “(A team) that can hit the long ball, pitches really well and on most days plays great defense. And is surrounded by a crowd that loves to watch them play. I don’t know if you can do much better than that.”

Up next: Game two of the series kicks off Friday night at 7 p.m. ET. Jack Mahoney (3-1, 3.22 ERA) will start for South Carolina opposite Florida’s Hurston Waldrep (6-1, 4.15 ERA).

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