Stone leads South Carolina to series-opening win with complete game effort: 'He was a leader'

With South Carolina leading by a run in the bottom of the eighth, Paul Mainieri walked over to Brandon Stone as he pondered what his next move would be. Stick with his starting pitcher or turn to his bullpen to try and nail the game down?

It seemed like an easy decision considering Stone had only thrown 80 pitches on the night. But his head coach had to make sure he could handle going the distance.

“I did go over and ask him after the eighth inning, ‘Have you ever gone nine innings before?'” Mainieri said. “And he said, ‘Oh, yeah, but at a much higher pitch count than this. 130 pitches or so.’ He felt so fresh that there was no way I was taking the ball from him.”

So Mainieri decided to keep Stone in as the ninth inning began. Six pitches later, the right-hander finished off a complete game and guided South Carolina to a 3-2 win over No. 11 Ole Miss on Thursday.

This was Stone’s first outing since his last start against Mississippi State on April 6. He didn’t see any action when the Gamecocks (22-17, 3-13 SEC) traveled to Texas A&M last weekend. Mainieri cited that nothing was wrong with him, believing there were “better guys to use” in certain situations.

Like all pitchers, Stone wanted to help the team and pitch during that road trip. But when Mainieri used Brendan Sweeney for a second time in the series, that’s when he knew he would roll with Stone in the series opener against the Rebels.

“I think he was excited about the start,” Mainieri said. “And after having a really bad game and getting walked off twice, we needed a leader out there tonight, and he was a leader. I knew he would be.”

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Stone dazzled on the mound, becoming the first Gamecock pitcher since Brett Kerry (May 15, 2021, at Kentucky) to pitch a nine-inning complete game. He pitched nine innings of two-run ball on six hits and struck out four without a walk.

“I felt pretty good from the beginning of this week in my bullpen with Coach (Terry) Rooney. We really worked on getting the ball down again,” Stone said. “Just kept it down and made (Ole Miss) get themselves out and kept throwing it.”

Stone only made two mistakes on the night, giving up two solo home runs, one in the third inning and another in the sixth. It’s been a bit of, as Mainieri put it, an “Achilles heel” for him as he’s surrendered eight homers on the year. But he pitched well to contact and let his defense do the rest as the Gamecocks turned three double plays.

As the innings wore on, Stone’s emotions ramped up to where he was letting it all out on the mound. His night ended with a Gatorade bath, courtesy of Ethan Petry and Will Tippett doing the honors.

“Late in the game, I knew it was a pretty close game, and so I was just trying to get my team fired up, too,” Stone said. “I mean, obviously, I was pretty fired up myself. But yeah, just keep the whole team in it. And I was hoping we would get a couple more runs, give me a little backbone.”

Stone’s efforts didn’t go to waste as the offense did just enough to give him a chance to earn the win. After scoring right away in the opening inning, the Gamecocks broke a 1-1 tie in the fifth with two runs on four hits against Ole Miss left-hander Hunter Elliott.

Gavin Braland brought home the go-ahead run on a fielder’s choice, where Ole Miss shortstop Luke Cheng made a diving stop, but his throw to the plate was not in time. Nathan Hall drove in an additional insurance run with an RBI single into left.

When Ole Miss brought in reliever Mason Morris after Elliott’s start, he dominated South Carolina over 2.2 innings of work. The right-hander struck out six and threw 22 of 28 pitches for strikes. It wasn’t a great night for the offense, but thanks to Stone’s performance, it did the job well enough.

“I gotta tell you, when they brought that Morris kid in, wow, that kid was awesome. I mean it. He wasn’t just a hard thrower. He had a great curveball, cutter. I mean, threw all strikes. Who hits that guy?” Mainieri said. “He pretty much dominated us once he came into the game. So I’m glad we got those runs early.”

Up next: South Carolina will go for the series win over the Rebels on Friday afternoon. With the spring football game in the evening, first pitch will be at 4 p.m. on SEC Network Plus. Jake McCoy (3-3, 7.30 ERA) will get the start.

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