South Carolina comes from behind to shock No. 1 LSU in walk-off win

Paul Mainieri didn’t just give Jase Woita the green light. In his own words, he gave him an “emphatic” green light to swing at a 3-0 pitch.

Tied with the No. 1 team in the country in the bottom of the ninth inning, Mainieri was going down swinging. He saw that South Carolina had struggled to bring home runs after putting itself in some good situations early on. So he called on Woita to pinch-hit for Gavin Braland, knowing he could potentially do some damage.

“Somebody has to eventually hit the ball to get, well, unless they throw a wild pitch to end the game right there,” Mainieri said, alluding to what later happened. “You hate to count on that. You need to hit your way to victory. I just thought Jase had the best chance.”

After Mainieri joked about Woita’s “blazing speed” earlier in the week, the junior slugger came through with potentially the biggest hit of the night, a triple that took a favorable bounce off the top of the left field wall. It set South Carolina up for a dramatic finish a few batters later, as Dalton Mashore, pinch-running for Woita, scored on a wild pitch to walk it off in a 6-5 win over top-ranked LSU.

“(Woita) was hauling,” said Henry Kaczmar, who hit two of the team’s three triples, becoming the first Gamecock since 2019 to do so. “I heard a couple guys in the dugout say, ‘Unhook the trailer!’ We’re all happy he got there. I thought it was going to leave the yard at the start. It stayed fair, but we were fortunate that he was able to hustle that triple out for us.”

It was the type of effort that encapsulated the night for the Gamecocks (28-26, 6-22 SEC). And after going through so much heartbreak and losses throughout the season, Mainieri felt it was about time something good happened for the players.

“You’ve got to get the best possible team put together. You’ve got to coach them right. You’ve got to motivate them. And then they got to go out there and they got to perform,” he said. “You’ve got to get some breaks along the way. It’s hard to win games, but anything’s possible. Today, we didn’t give up.”

After some weekends where the pitching was the biggest problem, South Carolina received quality outings from Ashton Crowther and Brandon Stone, who each pitched 4.1 innings.

Crowther gave up an early two-run homer to Daniel Dickinson in the first but settled in after that. Stone pitched well for most of his time on the mound before giving up two runs in the eighth that put the Tigers up by two runs with six outs to go.

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But the Gamecocks continued to battle. They immediately got a run back in the bottom of the inning with an RBI single from Kennedy Jones after Kaczmar led off with a triple. That was all they’d get, though, still trailing by a run with three outs left.

Then, with one out in the ninth, KJ Scobey tied the game with one swing as he crushed a solo homer off LSU right-hander Zac Cowan. The freshman third baseman admitted he sat on a first-pitch changeup, which he hit into the visitor’s bullpen.

“He’s really been swinging the bat great. He swung the bat well down at Auburn, you know, the game-tying home run today in the ninth inning,” Mainieri said. “Don’t forget his sacrifice fly off of Noot when he came into the game. That was a huge swing, too. Scobey is developing into a really outstanding player, just like I thought he would.”

Just when it looked like South Carolina was heading towards another brutal loss, it found new life. It looked like the game might be on its way to extra innings after LSU first baseman Jared Jones made a diving catch to rob Nathan Hall of a possible walk-off hit.

But after Woita’s all-important triple, a 1-1 pitch to Cayden Gaskin bounced in the dirt and went to the backstop. Mashore scored easily as a player-led celebration ensued at Founders Park. Mainieri watched on, soaking up all he could of a big night for his team.

“Anytime you beat the number one team in the country, it’s special,” Mainieri said. “… It was an exciting night for South Carolina, the Gamecocks, and our players and staff. I’m glad the fans got to enjoy a really good win as well.”

Up next: South Carolina will go for the series win over the Tigers on Friday. First pitch is at 7 p.m. on SEC Network Plus. Jake McCoy (4-4, 6.71 ERA) will get the start on the mound. It will also be senior night for the Gamecocks, which will begin at 6:25 p.m.

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