The baseball season has suddenly turned sour for USC. The Gamecocks followed up their three-game sweep at the hands of Clemson last weekend with a 15-7 drubbing at the hands of Xavier Tuesday afternoon at Founders Park. The Gamecocks are now on a four-game losing streak and are 7-5 with top-ranked Texas coming to Columbia this weekend.
Xavier had won just two games prior to Tuesday, both at Upstate last weekend. The Musketeers buried the Gamecocks with a seven run fourth inning that turned a 4-2 USC lead into a 9-4 Xavier advantage. The Musketeers would add three more runs to the scoreboard to build a 12-4 lead. The Gamecocks scored three in the bottom of the eighth, but Xavier answered that with three of their own in the ninth.
Nine USC pitchers, none of which went more than two innings. allowed 15 hits and eight walks. They hit four batters and they uncorked three wild pitches. Thirteen of the 15 runs allowed were earned. Reliver Aidan Hunter took the loss to fall to 2-2.
The Gamecocks’ offensive produced eight hits with Kevin Madden the only batter with at least two hits. He also drove in two. The Gamecocks left nine on base.
