Rock bottom. For the weekend, for the sesaon, maybe for South Carolina baseballpeiod.
The Gamecocks are 2-13 after a 15-12 loss at Texas A&M. That alone is galling, historically bad and frankly unacceptable at a school that prides itself on its baseball program.
But like this? To complete a third sweep in four weekends? As bad as it gets.
South Carolina led 12-2 in the sixth, 12-3 in the seventh and 12-7 with three outs to go before Texas A&M stormed back to hit two grand slams in the ninth inning, tallying eight runs to walk the Gamecocks off for the second time in three nights and send them back to Columbia with an improbable result.
Hayden Scott’s pinch hit grand slam — A&M’s third slam in as many games during the series — off Brendan Sweeney cut the 12-7 deficit to 12-11 in the ninth inning and Jace LaViolette’s single actully brought the winning run to the plate from 10 runs down. Winthrop transfer Caleb Jones entered for the save. After retiring Wyatt Henseler he walked Caden Sorrell and Bear Harrison, bringing Kaeden Kent to the plate.
Kent crushed a 2-1 pitch out to right field, a no-doubt walk-off grand slam. Texas A&M’s fourth slam of the series and second walk-off home run, after Sorrell ended Thursday’s game with a long ball.
Everything else prior to the ninth inning is more than academic in the grand scheme of what is now one of the worst collapses to complete one of the worst months of baseball in program history, but for most of the day, the Gamecocks did have control.
The first four innings were a matter of simply surviving a Texas A&M (20-15, 6-9 SEC) onslaught. The Aggies drew eight free passes in the first four frames between six walks and two hit batters as both Dylan Eskew and Jarvis Evans Jr. struggled to find the strike zone. Eskew in particular struggled with five walks in his first appearance since the Oklahoma series, the opening weekend of SEC play.
But he limited the damage to one run apiece in each of the first two innings, including a clutch pitch to get out of a bases loaded jam in the second. One inning later he turned the exact same trick, getting A&M second baseman David Royo to ground into an inning-ending double play with the bases loaded. Evans pulled an identical feat on Royo in the fifth, a key shutdown inning after the offensive outburst in the top half.
Said outburst started when Evan Stone turned around Myles Patton’s first pitch of the frame for a game-tying solo home run, South Carolina’s (20-17, 2-13 SEC) second long ball of the day after Dalton Mashore led off the third inning with one. Three batters later after Patton hit KJ Scobey and Gavin Braland with pitches wrapped around a Mashore double, Henry Kaczmar delivered a big blow with a two-run double smashed down the right field line.
Ethan Petry had the first of his two RBI hits with a two-run single one batter later, and the Gamecocks chased Patton as the fourth and fifth runs of the inning crossed all with nobody out.
After a frustrating four-game SEC losing streak where the Gamecocks scored just 11 total runs, the offense took out its frustration across the late innings at Blue Bell Park. South Carolina tacked on four more runs in the sixth thanks to a Petry RBI double, a Jordan Carrion two-run single capping off a marathon 12-pitch at-bat and a Beau Hollins RBI triple.
All going well, until it very, very was not.
The Aggies chipped away with two runs apiece in the seventh and eighth, pitched out of a bases loaded jam in the top half of the ninth, and set the stage to deal the final blow.
The epic, resounding, almost impossible to believe, final blow.
*******************************************************************************************
Looking to continue the conversation? Join us on the insider’s forum to talk all things South Carolina baseball
