South Carolina fights back to snatch victory from Winthrop in final midweek game

Paul Mainieri had seen this same story far too many times at this point in the season. As he watched Beau Hollins crack a linedrive into the right centerfield, he feared the worst outcome would happen.

It looked like he was about to be right, too. As the first-pitch swing from Hollins made its way into the outfield, Winthrop centerfielder Ethan Wilson laid out to make a game-saving catch. At least that’s what Mainieri and mostly everyone else at Founders Park thought.

“When I saw that centerfielder closing in on that ball,” Mainieri said, “I thought that this is very typical of the year we’ve had. This kid’s gonna make a diving catch and break our hearts right now.”

As it turned out, the ball hit the grass and never made it into Wilson’s glove. It rolled by him and allowed three runs to score as South Carolina stormed back for a 6-5 win over the Eagles on Tuesday.

Hollins’ bases-clearing double capped off a five-run rally after the Gamecocks (27-26) found themselves trailing 5-1 entering the bottom of the eighth inning. After struggling for most of the night to produce much offense, the bats woke up when it mattered most.

“I mean, it changed. But Coach (Monte) Lee was reminding us to stay up, stay positive throughout the game,” said Hollins about the energy shift in the dugout following his hit. “So, I mean, we’re always up, we’re always ready. But obviously, we got a little extra excited there.”

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When the Gamecocks only scored one run through the first seven innings, Winthrop had taken a firm grip on the game with a trio of solo home runs. Josh Skowronski, who led the charge with a three-hit night, was responsible for two of those homers, with one in the second and another in the sixth.

South Carolina already had multiple chances to get itself back in the game, but couldn’t do so. Returning from injury after missing the last eight games, Ethan Petry failed to come through in the sixth as the tying run when he flew out to right field. Then, in the eighth, right as the five-run rally began, he struck out swinging as the potential go-ahead run.

But while Petry finished 0-for-4 on the night with a pair of strikeouts, others in the lineup managed to come through. Kennedy Jones came up to pinch-hit and opened the scoring with an RBI double that went past the glove of Winthrop left fielder Jaylen Hernandez.

“When you’re losing, you’ve got to take some chances,” Mainieri said. “… We’re losing. We’ve got to try to get something going. I’m real happy for Kennedy to come through with that hit. That was really big.”

Two straight hits, capped off by an RBI single from Henry Kaczmar, cut the deficit down to two runs. It set the stage for Hollins to deliver the game-changing hit with his three-run double.

With the lead entering the ninth, it gave way for Parker Marlatt to come in and earn his first save of the year as the right-hander retired the side in order.

The Gamecocks will finish with a perfect 22-0 record against mid-major opponents. Despite their struggles against SEC competition, they never lost any Quad III or IV games, something that’s tough to do in college baseball.

“Just real happy for the kids. They’ve had so many tough times during the course of this year, and to have a great comeback like that was really special,” Mainieri said. “I’m just real happy that they got to experience that, and it was a good win for us.”

Up next: South Carolina will close out the regular season with a three-game series against No. 1 LSU starting Thursday night. First pitch is at 7 p.m. on SEC Network.

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