FINAL: South Carolina Eeks Out 4-3 Midweek Win Over Georgia State
South Carolina's baseball team found a way against the Georgia State Panthers on Tuesday night.
Just three days away from the beginning of SEC play, Mark Kingston and South Carolina's baseball team had a tricky game on their hands tonight as they played against the Georgia State Panthers at the homer of the minor league team The Augusta GreenJackets in North Augusta, SC. While it was not the Gamecocks best performance, the team did enough to squeek out their 14th victory of the season.
In the first inning, the hottest bat in Carolina's hitting lineup, Dylan Brewer, got things started off with a single, and eventually reached home via a stolen base, a passed ball, and then an RBI-single from Ethan Petry, giving the Gamecocks an early 1-0. South Carolina'a starting pitcher, Eddie Copper, was an absolute heater at the beginning of his fourth start of the season, setting the Panthers down in order in each of the first two innings and racking up five strikeouts in the process.
However, Georgia State would come alive at the plate in the third inning, hitting three doubles and scoring two runs to take a one-run lead. Kingston's team, as they have for most of non-conference play, struggled to mount a quick response, and weren't able to capitalize on a plethora of situations that presented themselves offensively batting .200 with runners on base and .222 with runners in scoring position. Despite those negative trends continuing, Carolina would reclaim the lead due to their work in the 5th and 6th innings, recording three total extra-base hits in that stretch, leading to two runs, and another run scoring off a wild pitch.
In the top of the seventh, the Gamecocks would find themselves in a pickle once again on the mound, as Roman Kimball, who came on in relief for Matthew Becker, walked one batter, then allowed him to get into scoring position off a wild pitch, would strikeout a Panther hitter before being taken out for Chris Veach. Veach would allow the runner from second to score off an RBI-double, but struck out two more Georgia State batters to help South Carolina maintain a one-run lead.
In the final two innings, Garrett Gainey would take the rubber and flirted with fire in the 8th inning giving up two singles, but struck out four in what was another relatively dominant performance for the Liberty transfer. The No. 20 ranked Gamecocks will hit the road for their first three-game series of SEC play when they take on the Ole Miss Rebels this weekend.
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