Alabama 8-USC 3 Game Summary
- Alabama scored four runs in the second inning on a pair of two-out homers in handing South Carolina its sixth straight loss. The Crimson Tide won for the first time in Columbia since 2017, and broke a two-game losing streak to the Gamecocks.
- Luke Vaughn, who was hitting .212 going into the game, put the Crimson Tide on the board with a solo shot off of Gamecock starter Amp Phillips. After a pair of walks, star shortstop Justin Lebron connected on his 13th homer of the season, a three-run drive to left, for a 4-0- lead.
- The Gamecocks got on the board in the fourth with a leadoff double by Talmadge LeCroy and a two-out single through the left side by KJ Scobey.
- Alabama scored one run in the seventh, then put the game on ice with three runs in the eighth. Two scored on Vaughn’s second home run of the night, and the third came in on a wild pitch.
- The Gamecocks scored their final runs in the bottom of the eighth. With runners on second and third and two outs, both were able to score on wild pitches to make it an 8-3 game.
- USC was held to four hits (.129), including 2-14 with runners on base. The Gamecocks struck out 13 times, giving them 47 strikeouts over their last four games.
- Phillips took the loss to fall to 3-7. He pitched 5.1 innings, allowing four runs on four hits. He struck out three and walked three. Parker Marlatt allowed three runs and four hits over two innings. Josh Gregoire finished up and allowed one hit while striking out three.
- Alabama starter Tyler Fay (8-3) struck out ten over seven innings. He allowed one run and two hits.
- The Gamecocks are 22-28 and can not finish better than .500 overall in the regular season. They are 7-18 in the SEC. Alabama is 33-17 overall and 14-11 in the league.
- Game two of the series will be Saturday with first pitch at 1:00 PM by the Gamecocks’ Brandon Stone.
This team is a joke. They can’t hit and the pitching is nothing to brag about either. They need a lot more than a coach. The worst South Carolina team I can remember in a long long time.