5th ranked USC gave up seven unanswered runs to Missouri Friday night in falling to the Tigers 7-2 in the opening game of the weekend series at Founders Park. The Gamecocks took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the 2nd on an RBI single by Brady Allen and a bases loaded wild pitch. That would be it for the Gamecock offense. And it wasn’t enough.
Gamecock starter Thomas Farr shutout the Tigers thru the first four innings, but unraveled in the 5th. The Tigers loaded the bases with a single, a hit batsman and a walk. With two outs, Garrett Rice cleared the bases with a double for a 3-2 lead.
Andrew Peters replaced Farr to start the top of the 6th. He yielded a two-out double for one run, and then a throwing error on third baseman Jack Mahoney allowed two unearned runs to score for a 6-2 lead. The Tigers tacked on a final run in the 8th.
Farr allowed four hits and three earned runs. He struck out nine but walked five. He took the loss to fall to 2-2. The Gamecocks had only five hits, two by Allen, giving them just eight hits over the last 19 innings. They also committed three errors with one leading to a pair of unearned runs.
USC has lost two straight and falls to 19-9 overall and 6-4 in the SEC. Game two of the series will be Saturday at Noon.
