Jake McCoy's strong outing lifts South Carolina to 1st series win of SEC play

Consecutive wins have been hard to come by for South Carolina during the 2025 season.

After going on a nine-game winning streak to begin the campaign, the Gamecocks have won consecutive games only twice since then. They won four six straight contests against Davidson, The Citadel, Morehead State and Georgia State in early March; they later followed up a midweek win over Presbyterian with a series-opening win over Mississippi State to kick off the month of April.

South Carolina still had yet to win consecutive games against an in-conference opponent this year. And after the Gamecocks claimed a 3-2 victory over No. 11 Ole miss the night before, they had a prime opportunity to curb that trend.

And curb that trend they did. On the back of a strong performance by Jake McCoy, South Carolina clinched the series with a 7-2 win.

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The victory marked the team’s first series victory against an SEC opponent since it took two games out of three on the road against Missouri on May 3-5, 2024.

South Carolina (23-17, 4-13 SEC) did not begin the game on the right foot, though. The Gamecocks faced an early deficit after Hayden Federico launched a solo home run to lead off the game.

McCoy recovered and quickly settled back into the game quickly. He prevented further damage by Ole Miss (27-12, 9-8 SEC) in the frame by striking out the next two batters he faced and retiring another to end the frame.

McCoy’s positive pitching would not be isolated to just the game’s initial inning. Over the next six innings, he allowed just one more hit and zero runs. In the process, McCoy struck out seven batters – including five in the first three innings – and walked just two.

While McCoy was dealing on the mound, the Gamecocks’ bats sprung to life – and scored runs by taking advantage of defensive mistakes.

South Carolina immediately erased the Rebels’ early lead by scoring three runs in the bottom of the first. With Nathan Hall on third base and Ethan Petry on first, Jace Woita blooped a single into right-center field that knotted the game at one run apiece.

Ole Miss’ defense began to unravel shortly afterward. During Beau Hollins‘ at bat, Riley Maddox threw two straight wild pitches that resulted in Petry scoring and Woita advancing to third base.

Those miscues on the mound were not the only costly errors made during that frame. Collin Reuter made a diving stop to keep a ball hit by Hollins from reaching the outfield but failed to step on first base as he ran to the infield. The play, which stood after a video review, resulted in another South Carolina run.

The Gamecocks continued building on their advantage in the second inning. Hall reached base for the second time in as many plate appearances after clearing the left-field fence with a solo home run of his own. His 391-foot blast increased South Carolina’s lead to 4-1.

Both teams remained off the scoreboard until the bottom of the sixth inning, when the Gamecocks added another run to its lead. Blake Jackson joined the “home run club” with a

All the while, Ole Miss’ bats struggled – until they found a spark in the seventh. Paul Mainieri elected to keep McCoy in the game, but he would only record one out in the frame. The Rebels’ first two batters reached base via a double and a five-pitch walk, and they faced a first-and-third situation with just one out after Ryan Moerman hit a sacrifice fly.

It was after that play that Mainieri decided to pull McCoy from the game and call Caleb Jones from the bullpen. Jones escaped from the jam unscathed one batter later, as he forced Austin Fawley to hit into an inning-ending double play.

Ole Miss wouldn’t go down without a fight, though, and was dully rewarded one inning later. After Jones allowed back-to-back walks, Judd Utermark drove home a run with an RBI single. The threat would soon go away after Mitchell Sanford flew out to end the inning.

South Carolina would eventually finish the game with strong play on both sides of the ball. In the bottom of the eighth, Hall capped off a 2-3 and two-walk day at the plate with a two-run single. And in the top of the ninth, Crowther delivered a scoreless frame to solidify the win.

Up next

South Carolina will be looking for its first sweep since early March in Sunday’s series finale. First pitch is scheduled for 2 p.m., and the game will be made available for streaming on the SEC Network Plus.

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