Rally Falls Short As Gamecocks Fall 5-4 At Auburn
March 31, 2017
AUBURN, ALA. ââ’¬” After trailing by five runs entering the fourth inning, fourth ranked South Carolina fought back and had the potential tying run on third base in the ninth inning, but 10th ranked Auburn held on for a 5-4 win on Friday night at Plainsman Park behind a complete game from right-hander Casey Mize. The Gamecocks are now 18-7 and 5-2 in the SEC with Auburn 22-6 and 6-1 in league play.
Mize struck out 12 in nine innings of work to improve to 4-1 on the year. He allowed four runs on 10 hits with one walk as well. Gamecock right-hander Wil Crowe suffered the loss and is now 3-1 on the year. He allowed five runs, three earned, on eight hits in six innings with a walk and six strikeouts.
Trailing 5-0 entering the middle innings, the Gamecocks began to figure out Mize as they scored a run in the fifth and three more in the sixth to cut the deficit to a run. Jacob Olson and Carlos Cortes each had consecutive one-out singles in the fifth with Olson scoring on Madison Stokes’ RBI groundout. Carolina loaded the bases with one out in the sixth on a walk to Matt Williams followed by singles from Alex Destino and Chris Cullen. LT Tolbert would drive in Williams on a fielder’s choice. That was followed by two consecutive two-out RBI singles from Olson and Cortes.
Carolina looked to tie the game in the top of the ninth inning. Olson led off with a single to center, his third hit of the game. Cortes then came to the plate and knocked a base hit into left-center. On the play, Olson aggressively raced to third base and beat the throw from Auburn left fielder Bowen McGuffin. With the throw going to third, Cortes looked to advance to second base, but Auburn third baseman Josh Anthony threw down to second and was able to get Cortes with the first out of the inning. With the infield in and one out, Stokes knocked a grounder to short that was speared by Auburn shortstop Luke Jarvis. Olson was not able to go home and Jarvis got the second out at first base. With two outs and a 0-1 count, TJ Hopkins set down a bunt towards third base. Having to field cleanly, Mize was able to get a hold of the bunt and make a perfect throw to first base just getting the speedy Hopkins for the final out of the game and give Auburn the victory.
Auburn took advantage of a couple of Gamecock miscues to take a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. Auburn loaded the bases with one out on a throwing error by third baseman Jonah Bride, a base hit and a walk. After Crowe fought back with a strikeout of Conor Davis for the second out, a passed ball on catcher Chris Cullen, followed by a throwing error allowed both Jonah Todd and Jay Estes to score. Auburn took advantage of a couple of Gamecock miscues to take a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. Auburn extended it to 5-0 in the third inning with two outs on a two-run double by Josh Anthony and a RBI single from Bowen McGuffin.
GAME CHANGER
Josh Anthony’s two-out two-run double in the third inning followed by a RBI single by Bowen McGuffin gave the Tigers a five-run cushion.
KEY STAT
South Carolina made a season-high three errors, which led to a pair of unearned runs.
NOTABLES
Jacob Olson went 3-for-4 with a RBI and a run scored to tie his career-high in hits in a game. He also had three hits on Tuesday in the win over The Citadel. Olson owns a six-game hitting streak, the longest streak currently for the Gamecocks.
Carlos Cortes had a career day as well as he went 3-for-4 at the plate with a RBI. It is his first three-hit game as a Gamecock.
Right-hander Reed Scott pitched two scoreless innings of relief with three strikeouts for the Gamecocks.
South Carolina out-hit Auburn 10-9
Matt Williams walked once in the game and has now reached base safely in 23 straight games.
QUOTABLE FROM HEAD COACH Chad Holbrook
“It was kind of a tale of two games. We were down 5-0 against one of the best pitchers in the country. The kids kept fighting and battling. We had our chances. A couple of real good hustle plays didn’t go our way at second base. Either one of them could have been called safe, but they weren’t. We battled like heck in the ninth to try and tie it up. I love the play TJ made in the ninth with the game on the line. It was just a bang bang play. I love what our kids showed me tonight. We battled, didn’t lose our head when things didn’t look good. We still had a chance to win the game. That bodes well going forward. We battled and competed and could have mailed it in and got ready for tomorrow, but we didn’t, and we tried to find a way to win it. We almost did. I loved the attitude of our guys and we’ll come ready to go tomorrow.”
UP NEXT
South Carolina and Auburn continue their series on Saturday evening. First pitch is 6 p.m. ET. The game will be televised live on ESPNU and can be heard on 1320 AM in Columbia.
