South Carolina win streak ends in midweek matchup with Charlotte

Eli Jerzembeck had been nothing short of filthy for South Carolina. He was pitching to a 1.38 ERA with 18 strikeouts and a walk through his first six games.

His next outing would carry much more meaning. He’d have the chance to make a start in his hometown of Charlotte, North Carolina.

After cruising through two innings, Jerzembeck hit a brick wall in the third. The five runs he allowed would be enough for Charlotte to take a commanding lead and win 6-2 Tuesday night at Truist Field.

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The loss snaps South Carolina’s (20-2, 3-0 SEC) 11-game winning streak, dating back to March 4. It also marks the first midweek loss of the season.

“We just didn’t play well in any facet offensively, defensively,” Mark Kingston said. “Obviously, one bad inning was the difference in that ballgame. So give (Charlotte) credit, they pitched us well. We just need to handle it better.”

Jerzembeck’s struggles began after recording one out in the third. With a runner on second, Michael Braswell made a throw that sailed high over Gavin Casas’ head. From there, the floodgates began to open.

“It’s just baseball. Guys are going to make errors. Guys are going to have tough at-bats,” Kingston said.

Charlotte picked up consecutive RBI singles before Jerzembeck served up a three-run homer that clanked off the right field foul pole. All of those 49er runs came with one out.

Before Jerzembeck could try to work out of the jam, his evening came to an end with two outs in the third.

“The big thing with him is just how he went about his business tonight,” Kingston said. “I felt when he got a little rough there in that inning, he needs to handle it better.”

Kingston added that Jerzembeck’s youthfulness got the best of him on the mound. He said he’ll need to grow and mature from this outing moving forward.

“That’s what I handled as much with him is the giving up some runs — that’s going to happen to anybody. But how you handle that needs to be an area where he continues to improve,” he said.

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To make matters worse, South Carolina’s offense was stifled by Charlotte left-hander Collin Kramer. Despite working five walks, the Gamecocks struck out eight times and didn’t score out a run through his five innings of work.

South Carolina managed to score its first run of the night after Kramer exited. Carson Hornung drove in a runner from third on an RBI groundout in the sixth.

That would be about all the production the Gamecocks would get, though. They finished with five hits and struck out 13 times while walking seven. 11 runners were also left on-base.

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Despite the team’s struggles, the bullpen kept the 49ers from doing more damage. Eli Jones entered first in relief and allowed one run on four hits in 3.1 innings of work. He struck out four and walked one.

Matthew Becker and Cade Austin pitched an inning apiece after Jones departed. They’d do their job as they combined to strike out five and allow one hit each.

“I thought they did great. I mean, they threw almost six innings and gave up one earned run, one walk and nine strikeouts. Can’t ask for more than that,” Kingston said.

However, South Carolina would start to make things interesting in the ninth. Talmadge LeCroy and Will Tippett each singled before Braylen Wimmer drove in a run with a single to trim the deficit to four.

With the bases loaded, Cole Messina stepped into the batters box as the tying run. It was the perfect situation for a hitter capable of homering at any moment. But he grounded out to short, ending the threat.

“I saw like four sliders and a change-up. Talmadge, my buddy, just asked me, ‘What were you trying to do?’ I was trying to get it to the next batter, get it to Ethan Petry, the hottest hitter in America right now. Just get it to him and see what happens,” Messina said.

Up next: No. 11 South Carolina returns to Founders Park to begin a three-game series with No. 22 Missouri Friday night. First pitch begins at 7 p.m. on SEC Network.

“I heard one of the guys say it’s a reality check. We were on an 11-game win streak, kind of on the high horse and got knocked down,” Messina said. “We’ll see how we bounce back, see who we really are. I’m excited to see it, and I think we’ll respond well.”

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