Alabama Baseball Suffers Second Straight Late-Inning Loss to South Carolina

The Gamecocks used another late-game run to take the game and series from the Crimson Tide.

A pitcher’s duel between Alabama and South Carolina finished in favor of the Gamecocks, 2-1, on Saturday night at Founders Park. The Crimson Tide is now 25-19 on the season and 9-11 in Southeastern Conference play.

"It’s the same story – we’re doing a lot of really good things, put together some really good pieces, but we make a critical mistake that the other team takes advantage of," said Alabama head coach Brad Bohannon. "They found a way to put a ball in play with a runner at third and less than two outs, and we haven’t been doing that. If you walk the leadoff batter in a tie game in the eighth, it’s going to come back and get you.”

Jacob McNairy was masterful on Friday, tossing a career-high 112 pitches across 7.0 innings to match his career-long start. The senior allowed just one run on five hits and issued two walks while striking out seven to tie his career-best total. He kept the ball down all night, recording nine groundball outs, including a double play, with his lone mistake coming on a solo home run in the third.

The Tide was able to answer with one run in the top of the eighth, thanks to an RBI-single from Dominic Tamez. South Carolina came right back to regain the lead in the home half with a sacrifice fly proving the difference.

South Carolina starter Noah Hall matched McNairy with an impressive outing, working 7.0 scoreless with eight punchouts. Matthew Becker (2-3) picked up the win in relief for SC, while Dylan Ray (1-3) suffered the loss.

How It Happened

• B3 | Kevin Madden led off the inning with a home run. (1-0, South Carolina)
• T8 | Jim Jarvis singled to start the rally before advancing to second on a wild pitch. A walk to Andrew Pinckney came on a ball-four wild pitch, putting runners at the corners. One out later, Dominic Tamez delivered with an RBI-single through the right side to tie things up. (1-1)
• B8 | The leadoff man walked and stole second with an errant throw allowing him to move to third. A sacrifice fly in that same at-bat resulted in the go-ahead run for the Gamecocks. (2-1, South Carolina)

Postgame Notes

• Jacob McNairy tossed a career-high 112 pitches in his start. His previous high for pitches was 89 in his last outing against Georgia on April 23.
• McNairy logged 7.0 innings to match his career-long start. The senior also tossed 7.0 innings on March 2 against Troy.
• The seven strikeouts from McNairy matched his career-high total. He also had seven strikeouts on two previous occasions, most recently at Mississippi State on March 26.
• Drew Williamson’s hitting streak came to an end at nine games. Over that streak, the senior batted .378 (14-37) with two doubles, one triple, two home runs, seven RBI, five runs scored and three walks.
• Williamson’s reached base streak ended at 19 straight games. The streak dated back to March 27.

The Crimson Tide and Gamecocks will meet at 11 a.m. CT in the series finale. Alabama will look to sophomore left-hander Grayson Hitt for the start while South Carolina calls on righty Will Sanders, also a sophomore. Saturday’s matchup will be broadcast nationally on SEC Network.