South Carolina offense goes cold in shutout loss to drop series with Bulldogs

To say Sunday’s series finale with Mississippi State was a must-win would be an understatement. South Carolina badly needed this game to keep any hopes of making a real run at the postseason alive.

But with a chance to win the series, the Gamecocks were a no-show in a 6-0 loss to the Bulldogs. After winning the series opener on Friday, they lost the final two games of the weekend.

With 23 games to go, 18 left in SEC play, South Carolina (19-14) is now 2-10 in the conference. Only Florida (1-11) and Missouri (0-10) have been worse this season.

Scoreless through three and a half innings, things quickly fell apart in Brandon Stone’s outing when he came back out for the fourth. He looked sharp early on, giving up two hits without a run in his first three frames. But in the fourth, he gave up five runs on six hits, though those numbers didn’t paint the entire picture of what went wrong.

After a leadoff solo home run opened the scoring, Stone gave up a double to Hunter Hines, who barely slid in safely at second base. Head coach Paul Mainieri had already been successful using his challenges throughout the weekend. But he decided not to use one in this case.

“I think we just thought he was safe,” Mainieri said. “I took a poll of our staff, and everybody thought he was safe. So there was no use in trying to challenge.”

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This turned out to be an early turning point as the Bulldogs broke it open with four more runs. Nathan Hall, who made a good throw that nearly gunned down Hines, couldn’t haul in a pair of balls hit his way.

Right after Hines’ double, he couldn’t make a catch on a leaping grab in front of the left centerfield wall. He also made a diving attempt on a low sinking line drive and had the ball in his glove, but it popped out to keep the inning alive. Both plays were scored as hits and not errors, as neither was considered routine.

“Listen, the kid has played so great in centerfield the whole year. We’ve just become accustomed to him making those kinds of plays,” Mainieri said. “… But it just goes to show he’s human. And he just didn’t make those plays today, and it contributed to the big inning. But it wasn’t because of the lack of effort.”

The lone bright spot happened to be Matthew Becker, who pitched the rest of the way once Stone exited. After starting last Sunday’s series finale against Tennessee, Becker tossed 4.2 innings of one-run ball and struck out seven without a walk.

“I thought that was a big step in the right direction for Becker today,” Mainieri said. “That was the highlight of the day for us.”

To add more salt to the wound, South Carolina’s offense picked up where it left off, going hitless over the final 4.2 innings of Saturday’s loss. Hall led off Sunday with a first-pitch single into left field. Its next hit wouldn’t come until there were two outs in the ninth when Blake Jackson ripped a 3-1 pitch into right centerfield. He tried to extend it into a double but slid off the bag and was tagged out to end the game.

Karson Ligon, who came into the day with a 7.33 ERA, dominated the Gamecocks’ lineup as he struck out eight with one walk. The Mississippi State right-hander tossed a career-high six innings and only allowed one hit.

Following Ligon’s lead, Stone Simmons came in to start the seventh and pitched three shutout innings with four strikeouts. As a team, South Carolina struck out 13 times and walked once.

“If you only get two hits and don’t score any runs, you can’t win. And that’s the bottom line, quite frankly,” Mainieri said. “The guys that they threw, both pretty good power arms. I’m kind of surprised that they haven’t been more dominant on the mound after watching those guys throw today. But hey, one game. We’ve got to move on.”

Up next: South Carolina will head back home for one midweek game before going back on the road next weekend. The Gamecocks will host USC Upstate on Tuesday. First pitch is at 6:30 p.m. on SEC Network Plus.

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