The South Carolina baseball team fell 9-4 to Davidson in its fourth loss of the season on a rainy Wednesday night in Columbia. This was South Carolina's first loss at home, and the team will enter conference play with an 11-4 record this weekend.
“Obviously, we pitched really well in the beginning and the end, and in the middle it was a struggle,” head coach Mark Kingston said post-game. “Between that and needing to score more than four runs on a Tuesday night, it just wasn’t a good night for us.”
The South Carolina bullpen had some highs and lows Wednesday, striking out 17 batters but walking seven and allowing 9 runs on 11 hits. Freshmen right-hander Will Sanders started off strong for the Gamecocks, striking out one batter with one walk and allowing no hits, but was taken out after the first inning.
Freshmen right-hander Travis Luensmann picked up his first loss of the season in his fourth appearance on the mound. He only faced five batters but allowed 4 runs on 3 hits with two errors and no strikeouts.
Senior right-handed pitcher Parker Coyne had a season-high 5 strikeouts against the Wildcats after coming in for senior left-hander John Gilreath in the sixth inning.
The Gamecocks were unable gain any momentum offensively, not scoring more than 1 run in a single inning. South Carolina was only able to score 4 runs on 9 hits and left twelve runners out on base.
Junior catcher Wes Clarke hit a solo home run in the seventh inning to put him at 10 home-runs this season. He went 2-for-5 and brought in 2 of the Gamecocks 4 runs with 1 RBI to bring him up to 19 RBI this season.
Fifth-year shortstop George Callil also had another solid outing at the plate, hitting 2 singles in the sixth and eighth inning with only three at-bats, improving his batting average to .240 on the season.
“You’re going to go on hot streaks, you’re going to get in a funk every now and then, and the schedule is going to keep coming at you," Kingston said. "Our job is to get on the bus and go compete.”
The No.16 Gamecocks are hoping to bounce back this weekend as the team travels to Nashville, Tennessee to start SEC conference play against the No. 2 Vanderbilt Commodores. The first of three games is set to start Friday night at 7:30 p.m. ET and will be broadcasted on SECN+.