South Carolina's postseason magic runs out in Gainesville

It seemed like the stars were aligned for South Carolina to make a run. After dominating in regional play, the thought of Omaha became a real possibility.

The Gamecocks were red-hot. But so was Florida.

Things started strong on Friday but eventually fell apart. It was now win or go home for South Carolina.

But it just wasn’t meant to be.

South Carolina’s season ended in disappointing fashion, losing 4-0 to Florida in game two of the Super Regional.

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“Disappointed that we won’t be the team going to Omaha but it wasn’t for a lack of fight,” Mark Kingston said. “We’re one of the best teams in the country. Just ran into a buzzsaw tonight.”

It’s another season without a trip to Omaha, a place the Gamecocks (42-21) used to call home for a few years. They haven’t reached the College World Series since 2012.

After trading zeroes in the first inning, Jack Mahoney ran himself into some trouble in the second. The Gators put two aboard with one out and Tyler Shelnut coming up. Mahoney — dealing with a tight strike zone behind home plate — needed something to go his way.

With the shift on, Shelnut grounded over to the shortstop area. But with Braylen Wimmer and Michael Braswell on the left side, there was nobody able to cover second for a double play. This allowed him to reach first safely and keep the inning alive.

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Colby Halter, the same player who ended South Carolina’s season last year with a walk-off sacrifice fly in Hoover, did it again. On a 2-2 pitch, he ripped a two-out double into right, clearing the bases to give the Gators the game’s first lead.

Halter, Florida’s eight-hole hitter, finished 1-for-3 with three RBI and a walk.

“You want to see an Omaha lineup, that’s what it looks like,” Mahoney said. “You can’t throw your B stuff out there against this team. You have to have your A+ stuff. I really can’t say enough about this Florida lineup, man. I saw them twice, gave me hell twice.”

Mahoney worked a clean next two innings but ran back into more trouble in the fifth. After walking back-to-back hitters, Josh Rivera made him pay with an RBI single into left.

Moments later, pitching coach Justin Parker came out to the mound to take the ball from Mahoney. He went 4.1 innings, allowing three runs on four hits while striking out four and walking four.

Chris Veach and Eli Jones were able to do their job in picking up Mahoney. They combined to throw 4.2 innings and only gave up one run. Veach struck out four while Jones had two strikeouts.

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Either way, it was too much for the offense to make a comeback. The Gamecocks struggled to hit against Florida starter Hurston Waldrep. He fooled hitters one after the next. He pitched into the ninth with 13 strikeouts and only scattered three hits and two walks.

“He would’ve beat anybody in the country today. He was on a mission and he was as good as I’ve seen in that situation in 20 years,” Kingston said. “For a guy to pitch like that, to carry his team to Omaha, he put them on his back.”

Will McGillis started the game with a shallow single into right that dropped between the second baseman and right fielder. South Carolina wouldn’t pick up another hit until the sixth.

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The Gamecocks only were able to put one runner in scoring position. And when they did, Waldrep quickly silenced them. They went 0-for-2 with RISP and 2-for-23 (.087) at the plate.

“We were just chasing a lot of pitches,” Ethan Petry said. “The game was sped up on us, and we were just chasing balls in the dirt. Our approach the last time was to have it top part of the zone, and we weren’t executing that part.”

The offense eventually knocked Waldrep out of the game in the ninth after Wimmer led off with an infield single. Waldrep threw 117 pitches.

Brandon Neely would come in to try to seal the deal and did just that. He retired all three batters he faced in order to send Florida back to Omaha.

Up next: South Carolina will now transition into the offseason with much work to do. The next time it will take the field will be February 2024.

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