USC changed up their road fashion for the trip to Texas A&M in hopes of changing their results on the road. No such luck Friday night in College Station as the Aggies pulled out the whooping stick in a 16-4 romp. The Gamecocks’ four game winning streak ended with their 12th loss in 16 road/neutral site games this season, and their ninth loss in ten SEC road games.
This actually was a tight game through the first four and a half innings. The Gamecocks were only down 4-3 after scoring single runs in the first, third and fifth innings.
But it was the Aggies’ big innings and big blasts that turned the game. They scored three runs in the fourth, four runs in the fifth and six runs in the eighth. And they hit five homers over the last four turns at bat, including a grand slam in the eighth, in posting the most runs against the Gamecocks this season.
The Gamecocks had plenty of baserunners with ten hits, all singles, and eight walks, but they left twelve on base and were 2-11 with runners in scoring position. Kevin Madden had a three-hit night and Brandt Belk added a pair, and Andrew Eyster drove in two runs.
Gamecock starter Brett Thomas (0-1) took the loss allowing four hits and three runs over 3.1 innings. John Gilreath followed and was rocked for five runs on four hits over 1.2 innings. Parker Coyne, Cam Tringali and Aidan Hunter worked the final three innings and were tagged for the final eight runs on four hits with Tringali yielding the grand slam. Gamecock pitchers walked ten Aggies on the night.
One highlight for the Gamecocks… their first triple-play since 1999. In the third inning, the Aggies had runners on first and second when Braylen Wimmer snared a line drive, tossed to Michael Braswell on the bag at second to force the runner there, and he fired to first to complete the triple-play.
The Gamecocks are now 23-21 overall and 9-13 in the SEC.
