South Carolina uses dramatic comeback to clinch opening series
South Carolina’s Michael Braswell delivered the pitch and saw the umpire’s hand go up signaling strikeout.
The umpire made the call and Braswell turned to his team, overcome with emotion and fist-pumping to the dugout after delivering in a big moment.
Minutes later it was Braswell again delivering the game-winning play, a run-scoring grounder to third. It sealed South Carolina’s 8-7 win over UNC Greensboro and clinched the series.
“Kid’s a winner. Those are the kinds of guys you want to have in your program,” Mark Kingston said. “He’s just a winner. He’s a good baseball player and I’m glad he’s a Gamecock.”
Braswell, a star freshman entering school, finishes his weekend going 4-for-13 with three walks, four RBI and three walks in his first college baseball series.
“I mean it’d be hard to top what I did this weekend: two wins, I played relatively well and the team came together for the first weekend,” Braswell said. “It was great. I couldn’t imagine anything better personally.”
But the Gamecocks coming through in the ninth gave Braswell the chance to be the hero in the tenth.
Trailing by six entering the ninth, South Carolina (2-1) got a pinch-hit, two-run homer from Connor Cino then loaded the bases with two outs to set up Andrew Eyster.
Eyster didn’t wait long, tagging the first pitch he saw over the left field fence for a game-tying grand slam.
“It’s difficult struggling earlier in the game and knowing it’s a huge spot…You just have to go out there and battle,” Eyster said. “I had a good idea on what I was about to get since I was getting blown up by every fastball today. I was ready to hit it, ready for that moment. It was great.”
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Braswell slammed the door in the tenth, striking out the side with two looking.
“I’ve been pitching since I was young I was actually a better pitcher starting my baseball career than a shortstop. It wasn’t anything nerve-wracking for me,” Braswell said. “It was a good experience.”
Things started off poor for South Carolina with Josiah Sightler giving up five runs in the first three innings and the hitters unable to get anything going off of Greensboro starter Adam Parsley.
One of the big reasons the Gamecocks were able to stay in the game was because of Wes Sweatt, who came in for Sightler and scattered just two hits over 3.1 scoreless innings to settle things down.
“He gave us two great outings this weekend. He’s very much an unsung hero this weekend,” Kingston said. “That gave us a chance.”
The Gamecocks used 15 different position players Sunday whether in pinch-hit, pinch-run or defensive substitution roles and five different arms in relief after Sightler.
It wasn’t pretty at times, but the Gamecocks are happy with a total team win.
“It says a hell of a lot, really. I don’t know how many guys got into this game,” Eyster said. “It was seriously a complete team effort…That’s something you have to rely on everyone no matter if you’re starting or not.”
“We would like to do that a little earlier to avoid the high blood pressure, heart rate and stress. But it really says a lot. This team, we weren’t ready to give up…I think what we showed a little bit yesterday and today was so much more important that looking at it on whether it was a sweep or not.”
