South Carolina drops opening game of Super Regional

As James Hicks worked his way into trouble in the fifth, a tall, lanky right-hander stood up in the visitor’s bullpen.

Hicks, who had a runner on third and one out, found a way to get out of it and keep the game tied. But the right-hander in the bullpen was still up.

After South Carolina went down swinging in the sixth, the tall right-hander began trotting out to the mound. It was Will Sanders.

At first, it seemed like the right move. He had been dealing as of late and looked to be the best guy to keep the game where it was.

“We said if the game would be in the balance, Will would be used. This gives us the ability to use him twice and that’s probably what we will do,” Mark Kingston said.

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Sanders fooled the first two batters he faced and struck them out. He was locked in.

Then came the big blow.

On an 0-1 pitch, Sanders left one over the heart of the plate. And he paid the price for it. Florida catcher BT Riopelle hit a long fly ball to dead center that kept carrying. As Will Tippett kept running back, he eventually ran out of room. It was a solo home run that gave the Gators their first lead of the night.

“BT is a good hitter, he’s been hot. Every hit that he has goes over the fence,” Sanders said. “I started him with an 0-0 curveball — that’s where I wanted it. Threw him an 0-1 changeup and it was down in the middle. And he put a good swing on it.”

It would be the only mistake Sanders would make. But it would be a costly one. After a two-hour weather delay, Florida defeated the Gamecocks 5-4 in the first game of Super Regional play.

Things looked promising for South Carolina (42-20) to start the night as the offense came out firing. On the second pitch of the game, Will McGillis launched a solo homer into left.

Gavin Casas later followed in the first with a first-pitch RBI single into right. Very quickly, the Gamecocks were up 2-0.

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But Florida answered right back. Josh Rivera hit a 453-foot two-run shot into the night to tie the game up.

South Carolina continued to keep hitting off Florida right-hander Brandon Sproat. By the time the second inning ended, the Gamecocks were already up to seven hits. It culminated in retaking the lead on an RBI single by McGillis.

The Gamecocks had a chance to do more damage in the second with the bases loaded but couldn’t do so. Cole Messina grounded back to the mound, starting a 1-2-3 double play to end the threat.

In the fifth, Braylen Wimmer grounded back to Sproat, who tried to bare hand and throw to first. His throw skipped away and rolled down the line. But as Wimmer turned towards second, he was called out for runner’s interference.

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After about a five-minute discussion amongst Kingston and the umpires, the call wasn’t changed.

“As you saw by my persistence out there with the umpires, I was not satisfied with the explanation. Their job is to make the calls and my job is to defend the team,” Kingston said. “

“We didn’t necessarily agree on the outcome, but umpires are out there for a reason. They had their opinion and we had to go with it.”

In this situation, it would make a big difference in the game. Ethan Petry went on to single into right in the following at bat. If the umpires had awarded second base to Wimmer, he might’ve scored on the hit.

“Their opinion was that Braylen should not have been awarded second base. I obviously disagree but I don’t get to make the call,” Kingston said.

“They were talking about obstruction A and obstruction B and went into some things. Again, I disagree but I don’t get to make the call.”

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Instead of potentially adding onto the lead, the Gamecocks came away with a big goose egg. They got a runner to third but couldn’t bring them home, firing up Florida in the process.

As a result, this call came back to haunt South Carolina. In the bottom of the fifth, Tyler Shelnut homered on the first pitch of the inning to tie the game.

Then the game went into a brief stalemate. Hicks did what he could, only making one more mistake in his outing. In five innings of work, he allowed three runs on six hits and struck out two and walked none.

Before the Gamecocks pulled Hicks, he had only thrown 56 pitches. Normally he would be coming back out for the sixth. But things tend to be different in the postseason.

“It just felt like it was time. He gave us five innings and it just felt like was time to pass the baton,” Kingston said.

After Florida hit the go-ahead home run off Sanders, it added an insurance run in the eighth, an RBI single from Shelnut.

South Carolina, meanwhile, went cold at the plate. It went into the ninth with only three hits after the second.

McGillis changed that, though, as he hit his second homer of the night, a solo shot into left. That would be all for the Gamecocks as Wimmer grounded out to third to end the game.

“We’re in a Super Regional. We’re going to come back and battle tomorrow and battle the next day. It’s all we can do,” Wimmer said.

Up next: It’s do or die time. South Carolina will look to avoid elimination in game two Saturday afternoon. First pitch is at 3 p.m.

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