South Carolina baseball loses first game of season to Belmont
South Carolina baseball trailed on Saturday afternoon, which is a story in it of itself. Before Saturday, the Gamecocks had trailed just twice this season and, in both instances, they had regained the lead in a matter of minutes.
This team played themselves out of adversity with great pitching and better offense.
But when the adversity stuck on Saturday, the Gamecocks could find the antidote. Pitchers Dylan Eskew and Chris Veach had struggles and the offense couldn’t muster a timely hit.
And so, for the first time in 2024, South Carolina (6-1) suffered a loss, falling to Belmont, 11-2 . Roman Kimball will take the mound for Gamecocks in the rubber match on Sunday and, if you remember, Kimball’s last start ended in a no-hitter.
Eskew, South Carolina’s starting pitcher, had a no-hitter going through four innings on Saturday. His command was masterful. On a windy day, he was keeping his pitchers down in the zone, helping him rack up three strikeouts.
But his location waned in the fifth inning. Eskew walked the first batter of the flame and plunked the second. The, finally, Belmont got a hit. Centerfielder Michael Lareau roped a 2-RBI double into left field. An inning later, another Belmont double scored two more runs.
Heading into the bottom of the sixth, South Carolina trailed by four runs. For context, the Gamecocks hadn’t allowed more than four runs in any of their first six games (and only 11 combined runs all season).
At every point when there were runs were the taking and the suspense built, South Carolina struck out.
In the sixth, Will Tiippett struck out with a man on third.
In the seventh, Parker Noland and Ethan Petry struck out with a runner on. Then Talmadge Lecroy watched strike three with two runners in scoring position.
In the eighth, after South Carolina pitcher Chris Veach allowed a home run that bumped the Belmont lead to a half dozen, the Gamecocks’ first two batters each reached base. The opportunity was ripe.
But, on this day, nothing went right.
The next three batters — Gavin Casas, Carson Hornung and Blake Jackson — all struck out looking. On the afternoon, the Gamecocks struck out eight times, six of which the USC batter went down watching.
At the end of the eighth inning, after Jackson went down on a strike-three call he and the Founders Park faithful disagreed with, coach Mark Kingston walked out to the field and started down home-plate umpire Matthew Wilbanks for almost 30 seconds.
Wilbanks looked the other way.
