FOUNDERS PARK: For one night at least, South Carolina can claim to be better than the number one ranked team in the country after beating LSU 6-5 in the first game of their three game series. The Gamecocks’ struggles this season have been well chronicled, but against the Tigers Thursday night at Ray Tanner Field, they made some big defensive plays, got some big hits and got a big break at the end.
The Gamecocks trailed 5-3 going to the bottom of the eighth. The Tigers brought in closer Zac Cowan, a Blythewood native and a transfer from Wofford. In SEC games he had five saves and a 2.17 ERA. Henry Kaczmar greeted him with a triple to right. Kennedy Jones singled and it was 5-4. That was all for the Gamecocks as pinch runner Cayden Gaskin was caught stealing and Jordan Carrion and Beau Hollins hit fly ball outs.
Brandon Stone, who relieved Ashton Crowther with one out in the fifth, went to the mound to start the ninth. He retired the first two batters on ground balls, but an error by KJ Scobey at third gave the Tigers life. A single followed to put runners on first and second. Matthew Becker (3-3) replaced Stone and induced a ground ball to second to end the inning.
With one out in the bottom of the ninth, Scobey tied the game with a solo home run into the bullpen in left center, his 8th of the season. Pinch-hitter Jace Woita then hit a high fly into the left field corner that hit off the wall for a triple. Blake Jackson was hit by a pitch to put runners on the corners. After Nathan Hall popped out to first, Kaczmar was walked intentionally to load the bases.
That brought Gaskin to the plate for his 17th at bat in SEC games this season. Though he was hitting .375, he had only two RBIs. None of that mattered as Cowan uncorked a wild pitch allowing pinch-runner Dalton Mashore to score the wining run from third.
And the celebration, 54 games in the making, was on.
The Gamecocks had to battle back all night to win this one. They trailed 2-0 after a half-inning as starter Ashton Crowther gave up a two-run homer. The Gamecocks made it 2-1 in the bottom of the second on a Scobey sacrifice fly.
The Tigers scored a run in the fifth for a 3-1 lead, but the Gamecocks came back with two runs in the sixth on a Kaczmar RBI triple and a sac fly by Jones to make it 3-3.
Both teams threatened in the seventh but did not score. Former Gamecock Michael Braswell had a one-out double to left. With two outs, Stone hit a batter to put runners on first and second, but he struck out Jared Jones to end the inning.
Scobey led off the bottom of the seventh with a single and was bunted to second. Jackson was hit by a pitch to put runners on first and second with one away. Nathan Hall then hit a sinking liner into right that Josh Pearson made a diving catch on. He was able to scramble to his feet and double off Scobey at second.
The win locks the Gamecocks into the 15th seed for the SEC Tournament meaning they will play in the 5:30 PM Eastern Time game in Hoover on Tuesday. They are 28-26 overall and 6-22 in the SEC. LSU is 40-13 and 17-11. They are tied with Vanderbilt and Georgia for third in the SEC standings.
Box Score
Paul Mainieri, KJ Scobey, Henry Kaczmar postgame
