Baseball Falls to Florida to Open Series
COLUMBIA – The South Carolina baseball team dropped its first game of the series against Florida, 9-5, Friday night at Ray Tanner Field at Founders Park.
Blake Jackson drew a walk immediately out of a 3:04 rain delay. He advanced to third on an errant pickoff attempt. Henry Kazmar drove Jackson in on the next pitch with a single up the middle. Jordan Carrion doubled down the right field line to score Kaczmar. Beau Hollins followed with a single to second base that scored Jase Woita to give the Gamecocks the 3-0 lead in the first.
Florida’s Luke Heyman got the Gators on the board in the third with a double to left.
In the third, Hollins’ two-out single sent Woita home to extend the Gamecocks lead at 4-1.
A two-run home run in the fourth followed by a solo shot and grand slam in the fifth gave Florida the 8-4 advantage. Woita connected for a home run in the fifth, his fifth of the year, to bring the game within three.
The Gators would send one more home in the eight on a sacrifice fly to make it 9-5.
Brandon Stone got the start for Carolina throwing for four innings, scattering six hits and three strikeouts in the outing. The loss went to Jackson Soucie, who gave up four earned runs in two-thirds of an inning. Ryder Garino closed out the remainder of the game giving up just one run, striking out four in three innings of work.
Kennedy Jones and Woita had three hits apiece. Woita added three runs scored.
POSTGAME NOTES
- Carolina left 13 men on base in the loss.
- The game was delayed 3:04 in the bottom of the first inning and wrapped up at 1:31 a.m.
- Carolina had 13 hits on the day.
UP NEXT
South Carolina and Florida will play the second game of the series Saturday afternoon (May 3). The game time has been changed to 1 p.m., due to storms heading into the Midlands in the evening. The game will be streamed on SEC Network Plus.
