Georgia 9 – Gamecocks 7 Game Summary
- South Carolina batters reached base 20 times, Sunday, but they couldn’t produce enough key hits to outslug the Dawgs and avoid a sweep as no. 7 Georgia claimed a 9-7 victory in Athens.
- After being limited to a pair of hits in Saturday’s loss, the Gamecocks offense bounced back with 13 hits in Game 3, including home runs from Patrick Evans and Jake Randolph.
- Randolph got the scoring started with an RBI single in the first, followed by a sacrifice fly from KJ Scobey (3-4, 2 RBI) that gave the Gamecocks a 2-0 advantage. After Georgia tied it up on a pair of runs in the bottom of the first, the USC lineup went right back to work with an RBI double from Beau Hollins and an opposite field home run from Evans to put South Carolina up 4-2.
- The Gamecocks looked poised to salvage a game in the series after Scobey’s RBI double gave USC a 6-2 lead in the top of the fourth.
- The advantage was short lived, however, as Georgia answered with a run in the fourth, another in the fifth and three more in the sixth to take a 7-6 lead.
- For the third straight game, USC failed to cash in on some key opportunities, leaving two runners stranded in the second, fourth, sixth and eighth innings. In total, the Gamecocks left a dozen runners on base, Sunday, and 33 in the three-game series.
- South Carolina knotted the game up at 7-7 on Randolph’s opposite field homer in the eighth. But Gamecocks pitching couldn’t keep a lid on the Dawgs offense as Georgia plated two more runs in the home half of the eighth for the final margin.
- Alex Philpott (0-2) took the loss in relief. The lanky righthander had thrown three scoreless innings in the series before running into trouble in the eighth, Sunday. With a runner on and the game in the balance, Philpott surrendered an RBI double to left that broke the tie. Randolph (2-4, HR), a potent bat but not a seasoned outfielder, couldn’t make a play on the ball and it skidded past him to the left field wall.
- The Bulldogs came into the weekend as the nation’s top home run hitting club, but were held without a long ball, Sunday. Georgia did get two homers, Saturday, and one on Friday to increase their season total to 85.
- South Carolina (13-16, 1-8) will return home and play host to Wofford at 6:30 p.m., Tuesday.