Late-inning miscues bury South Carolina baseball in rubber game loss at Vanderbilt

Michael Lananna
Updated ·2 min read
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The mistakes started piling up.

No. 6 South Carolina matched No. 4 Vanderbilt frame for frame in Sunday’s rubber game — until two outs in the sixth inning. With the game tied, USC committed a series of blunders that allowed the Commodores to pull ahead and win the game 6-4, giving Vandy the series win.

In the bottom of the sixth, USC reliever Eli Jones quickly retired his first two batters before allowing a two-out walk, an awkward-looking infield single into the shift and then hitting the next batter to load the bases for slugger R.J. Shreck. USC switched pitchers to reliever Cade Austin, who promptly walked Schreck on four pitches to allow the go-ahead run.

It only got worse. A day after making three errors in USC’s Game 2 loss, third baseman Talmadge LeCroy mishandled a ball off the bat of Vanderbilt catcher Jack Bulger, allowing two more Vanderbilt baserunners to head home.

The loss resulted in USC’s (30-6, 10-4 SEC) first series loss of the season. It was the second straight weekend that USC tangled with a top 5 opponent — with a home series against No. 3 Florida on deck.

With starter Noah Hall still rehabbing a back injury, the Gamecocks turned to sophomore left-hander Matthew Becker in Game 3. Though he threw 87 pitches in just four innings, Becker gutted through his outing, limiting the damage to just two runs on four hits and three walks.

However, for the second straight day, the Gamecocks couldn’t get their bats going against the Vanderbilt pitching staff. Stud freshman Ethan Petry provided almost the entirety of the offense for USC as Vandy left-hander Devin Futrell struck out seven Gamecocks in 5.1 innings.

In the first inning, Petry set a new USC freshman record with his 18th home run — surpassing Justin Smoak’s 17 home runs in 2006. The right fielder added a sacrifice fly in the sixth and a line-drive RBI double in the eighth.

LeCroy added a solo homer of his own in the ninth inning, but it was too little too late for the Gamecocks. Vanderbilt reliever Ryan Gither shut the door with 3.2 innings of relief behind Futrell, earning his second win of the season.

Next four USC baseball games

Tuesday: vs. Charleston Southern, 7 p.m. (SEC Network Plus)

Thursday: vs. Florida, 7:30 p.m. (ESPNU)

Friday: vs. Florida, 7 p.m. (SEC Network Plus)