South Carolina 5-Missouri 1 Game Summary
- Three Gamecock pitchers combined on a two-hitter, striking out nine and walking three, as USC snapped a three-game losing streak.
- Brandon Stone pitched the first six innings. He gave up the Tigers’ only run on two hits. He struck out seven and walked one. He threw 75 pitches, 53 going for strikes, and he lowered his ERA to 2.89 while improving his record to 4-1.
- Alex Valentin started the seventh, and while he did not allow a hit, he walked one, hit one, and threw a wild pitch. He was replaced with two outs by Zach Russell, who got a ground ball to first to end the inning.
- Russell did not allow a hit the rest of the way, though he walked a batter in the eighth and hit a batter in the ninth. He struck out two and earned his first save of the season.
- The Gamecocks broke a scoreless tie with two runs in the top of the third on a two-run homer to left center by Patrick Evans, his sixth of the season.
- The Tigers scored their only run in the fourth off of Stone with a leadoff triple and a groundout to second.
- The Gamecocks padded the lead in the sixth with a pair of unearned runs. Tyler Bak led off with a double, and with one out, a two-base error by the third baseman on a ball hit by Talmadge LeCroy put runners at second and third. KJ Scobey then hit a ball to the right side to drive home. Luke Yuhasz followed with a fly to left that was misplayed for an error, allowing LeCroy to score.
- USC added one more insurance run in the eighth as Bak led off with a walk, moved to second when Jake Randolph was hit, advanced to third on a sac bunt by LeCroy, and scored on a wild pitch.
- Stone set down the Tigers in order in three of his six innings in arguably his best outing of the season. The Gamecocks went down in order in four innings as they finished 5-33 at the plate with four of those hits coming from the leadoff batter.
- Evans had two of the Gamecocks’ five hits, and he drove in two runs.
- USC is now 16-19 overall and 3-10 in the SEC. Missouri is 20-15 and 3-10. The Tigers’ loss drops them into the SEC basement with the Gamecocks. Game two of the series will be Friday at 7:00 PM with Amp Phillips toeing the rubber for the Gamecocks.
