South Carolina no-hits, sweeps Miami (Ohio) in Roman Kimball's return to baseball

As the entire team huddled together, Roman Kimball was last to come out of the dugout. He crouched down and wrote something out in the dirt with his right hand. A moment two years in the making was here.

He skipped out to the mound, a place he hadn’t been for a college baseball game in 609 days. But once he fired his first pitch, which was a strike, it was back to normal for him. He’d strike out the first two hitters he faced looking before getting a line out to make it through his first inning of work.

It wasn’t a long outing as he only pitched two scoreless innings, but it was more than enough for South Carolina’s offense to go to work in a 14-0 win over Miami (Ohio) on Sunday. The Gamecocks (3-0) also happened to throw a combined no-hitter for the first time since 2013. It’s the eighth no-no in program history.

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Kimball, who last pitched on June 19, 2022 in the College World Series, transferred to South Carolina before the 2023 campaign. However, he felt something wrong with his elbow during a fall scrimmage and missed the entire year with Tommy John surgery.

As he came off the mound, Kimball unleashed plenty of energy. His teammates were all out of the dugout to greet him after completing his first frame.

“Just getting through that first inning, I’m seeing the crowd and hearing my team and stuff. It was so surreal,” Kimball said. “You get into those moments, and I talked to you about Omaha with just blacking out, and that’s kind of what that was for me today. Just to be able to go out there and throw the ball again in a competitive setting. You’re just so laser-focused on what you’re doing and that was the mindset.”

He’d go back out for the second and work through a two-runner jam, ending his day with five strikeouts. His parents, Jeff and Elly, were in town for the entire weekend and sat right behind the dugout as they got to see their son pitch for the first time in two years.

“It means the world to me and the world to them,” Kimball said. “I know I went and hugged my mom after the game and she started crying. She was just like, ‘I’m so proud of you.’ And that hits home for me because I’ve put a lot of work in over the last two years to be able to get back to being out there. For them to be here and see that, it means everything to me.”

Meanwhile, South Carolina started off strong offensively in the home half of the first. The Gamecocks quickly got two runners aboard for the heart of the order as Cole Messina got them on the board first with a sacrifice fly.

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After a few more walks, the floodgates began to open. Dylan Brewer drove home a pair with an RBI single into center field. Then, with the bases loaded, the Gamecocks got two more runs via walks.

Brewer had a solid weekend, finishing 3-for-8 at the plate with five RBIs. As head coach Mark Kingston described it, “You saw why Dylan got the Opening Day assignment.”

“Dylan’s bat is pretty close with the other guys that he’s competed with, because we have a ton of outfield depth,” Kingston said. “The difference with Dylan is what he brings to the table defensively, on the bases, speed-wise. It gave him a little bit of an edge on a couple guys, which is why he got the first opportunity.”

In total, South Carolina sent 13 hitters to the plate in the first inning, scoring seven runs and walking six times.

Entering the third, Charleston transfer Ty Good made his season debut for the Gamecocks. He pitched two hitless innings, striking out two on 22 pitches.

“I thought that was the best version I’ve seen of Ty Good, even better than he had been in inter squads,” Kingston said. “I’ve been told about Ty Good that when stuff gets real, stuff gets important, he finds another gear, and I think I saw that today. I saw a very confident guy on the mound today.”

In the fourth, South Carolina plated five more runs. Gavin Casas got in on the action with a two-run double down the right field line. Then, Messina went the other way and hit a two-run single into right field to make it 12-0.

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With the game well in the balance, the Gamecocks were able to throw more arms the rest of the way. Tyler Pitzer pitched in the fifth and retired three batters in order after giving up a leadoff walk.

Parker Marlatt came out to pitch in the sixth and retired the side in order. He struck out one and threw 17 pitches.

With the run rule in effect, South Carolina had a chance to finish things off early in the seventh. And with Tyler Dean in to pitch, he retired the side in order to seal the deal.

For some of those guys, they didn’t even know what they had just accomplished. Throwing a no-hitter doesn’t happen all too often. And it didn’t sink in right away.

“I remember I was upstairs just doing my recovery and then walked back down and looked at the scoreboard and I’m like, ‘They don’t have any hits. I didn’t even realize that until the fifth inning.’ So at the end of the game, I’m like, ‘We just threw a no-hitter!'” Kimball said.

RELATED: South Carolina-Miami Game 3 Box Score

Up next: South Carolina’s home stand continues as Winthrop comes into town on Tuesday. First pitch is at 4 p.m. on SEC Network Plus.

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