South Carolina rides strong pitching, early offensive outburst to series victory

For the first time all year, No. 21 South Carolina was not just beaten but embarrassed on Saturday. The Gamecocks didn’t play well in many aspects, losing 11-2 to Belmont.

But it was just one game and there was still a chance to bounce back the next day. That’s the beauty of baseball.

The Gamecocks (7-1) responded in a big way, winning 12-1 over the Bruins on Sunday to clinch another series victory.

“Obviously the way we wanted these guys to respond today, we responded,” head coach Mark Kingston said. “We challenged them. Yesterday, everything that could go wrong went wrong and so it’s how you respond to it.”

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Roman Kimball made his second start of the year and struggled with his command in the first inning. He served up two walks before Belmont’s Brodey Heaton singled into left center field to drive home the game’s first run.

In the bottom of the first, Kennedy Jones smoked a leadoff solo homer into right field to get the Gamecocks right back in the game. For Jones, it was his first homer in a South Carolina uniform.

“I struggled a little bit through the fall and preseason, but my teammates were always there for me,” Jones said. “And so to be able to look at the dugout and see how happy they were for me, that’s all I needed to see right there. That was just a great feeling. My teammates have been behind me the whole way, so I really appreciate those guys.”

After loading the bases with one out, Ryan Bakes, making his first start, put together a solid at-bat and picked up an RBI walk. The outpour continued as Dylan Brewer singled in the next at-bat to score another run.

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South Carolina would add three more runs in the frame and batted around in the lineup. By the end of the first, it was already 6-1 Gamecocks.

This was more than enough of a backing for Kimball to work with. After the shaky first, he started to settle in and pitched three more solid innings. He’d end his day with four strikeouts and didn’t walk another batter the rest of the way.

“Feeling pretty good physically. Honestly want to go back out there for at least one or two more, but strict pitch count and just kind of building up from that minor lat problem that I had a couple weeks before the season,” Kimball said.

“Felt a lot of veracity out there today. Just going out there in the first inning, I felt pretty amped. And I feel like I kind of settled myself in the second through the fourth inning. Just settled in and threw lots of strikes, attacked their hitters.”

Meanwhile, the offense continued to chip away and pad the lead. Cole Messina, who had been struggling as of late, hit a two-run homer into left in the fourth.

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Matthew Becker came on in relief of Kimball to start the fifth and pitched well. Through three innings of work, the left-hander struck out five and walked two on 55 pitches. His off speed looked just about as good as it’s been, striking out three on breaking pitches in the seventh.

In the eighth, left-hander Garrett Gainey came into pitch and worked through Belmont’s lineup without much issue. He retired the side in order, only throwing 10 pitches and striking out one.

With a 10-1 lead entering the bottom of the eighth, Messina launched his second homer of the afternoon, a two-run shot to deep left. With the run-rule in effect, the Gamecocks managed to pick up the win.

“He hit two balls yesterday that were home runs 99 percent of the time. And that’s not just me making that up,” Kingston said. “That’s all of the technology that we have tells us that two of the balls he hit yesterday were home runs 99 percent of the games we play. But the 20 mile-per-hour winds blowing straight in held them up. So in my mind, he hit four homers this weekend. He’s swinging the bat great.”

RELATED: South Carolina-Belmont Game 3 Box Score

Up next: South Carolina’s home stand continues with a midweek matchup against Gardner-Webb on Tuesday. First pitch is at 4 p.m. on SEC Network Plus.

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