The defending National Champion South Carolina Gamecocks hit the road to take on the unanimous number 1 Florida Gators. South Carolina won Friday 9-2, lost Saturday 2-1 and clinched the series on Sunday with a comeback 4-3 win.
Breaking it Down…Florida has one of the best pitching staffs in the country. South Carolina knew that they would have to get good performances from their staff to compete in the series. Did they ever get a performance from Michael Roth on Friday night. Roth pitched eight shut out innings until finally yielding some runs in the ninth during his bid for a complete game.
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The Gamecock offense, that had been so hot against College of Charleston and Rhode Island, stayed hot on Friday against Florida. Florida starter Brian Johnson was only able to keep USC off the board until the third inning. Adam Matthews led off with a triple. Peter Mooney then singled him in, and Jackie Bradley Jr. followed with another single. Florida shortstop Nolan Fontana’s error loaded the bases. Adrian Morales grounded out to the right side to extend the lead to 2-0. Brady Thomas then singled to score both Mooney and Christian Walker.
In the sixth the Gamecocks put 4 more on the board on a Jake Williams home run, a Mooney RBI double, a Bradley RBI groundout and a Walker RBI single. In that inning Johnson was chased from the game. In the eighth Walker drove in Mooney to make the score 9-0. In the ninth Roth tried to finish the game but gave up a couple of hits and let John Taylor finish it for him. Taylor retired the two batters he faced, but the Gators pushed two across to avoid the shut out.
On Saturday, South Carolina took the field looking to take the series. What ensued was the pitching battle many had expected. Stephen Neff, the projected Saturday starter, was scratched due to shoulder tenderness, and freshman Forrest Koumas took the hill. After a scoreless first, South Carolina struck first in the second. Jake Williams singled with one out. Brady Thomas moved him to third on a single of his own. An error by the Florida third baseman allowed Robert Beary to reach and Williams to score. With runners at the corners and one out, it looked like USC might break the second game open early. Scott Wingo drove a line drive right at the second baseman who snagged it and doubled off Beary to end the inning.
Florida didn’t respond immediately, but they did respond in the third. Koumas ran into trouble when he sandwiched two HBPs around a throwing error on Morales. With no outs and the bases loaded in a one run game, Koumas gathered himself and pitched his way out of trouble. Florida’s Fontana managed a sacrifice fly to tie the game, but Koumas got a pop up and a fly ball to halt any further scoring. South Carolina wasn’t able to respond. In fact, Florida pitcher Hudson Randall didn’t allow another base runner the rest of the game. Florida took the lead for good in the seventh. In that inning Matt Price came in to relieve Forrest Koumas. On the first pitch Florida got a home run, which was all they would need. The game ended 2-1.
Sunday started like a continuation of Saturday. Florida Starter Karsten Whitson was dominant. South Carolina couldn’t get any offense going in the first 5 innings and only had two hits. Florida, on the other hand, got to Gamecock starter Bryan Harper and scored 3 runs in the second. Colby Holmes came on in relief in the third and stymied the Gators for 3 innings. In the South Carolina sixth the Gamecocks got on the board. After Adam Matthews walked to lead off the inning Florida pulled their starting pitcher in favor of Nick Maronde. Mooney then walked and JBJ flew out. Christian Walker hit a sharp ground ball to the shortstop and it ate him up. Walker reached and Matthews scored. Morales then had and RBI groundout, and Williams singled Walker home to tie the game at 3.
John Taylor came on in the 6th when the drama began. Florida loaded the bases with no outs. Josh Adams hit a soft grounder to Morales at third. Morales threw home for the force, and Brian Johnson, the Gator on third, came in late and took out South Carolina catcher Brady Thomas with a slide. He was already out; the batter was called out because of the interference, and the other runners had to go back to first and second. Taylor then struck out the next batter to end the threat. He got two outs in the seventh before yielding to Matt Price. Price induced a pop up to end the 7th. Matthews led off the 8th with a double off of new Florida pitcher, Tommy Toledo. Mooney was then hit by a pitch. JBJ sacrificed them over, and Christian Walker was intentionally walked to load the bases. Adrian Morales drew a RBI walk to take the lead 4-3, but the Gamecocks couldn’t push across another run. Matt Price then did Matt Price like things and retired 6 of the next 7 batters to win the series.
Stars of the Series…Michael Roth…W, 8.1 IP, 2 R, 2 ER, 6 K, 2 BB…John Taylor…2 app, 2.1 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 2 K, BB…Matt Price…W, L, 2 app, 4.1 IP, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 H, 4 K, 2 BB…Forrest Koumas…6 IP, 1 R, 0 ER, 5 K, 2 BB, 3 HBP…Jake Williams…5-12, HR, 2 RBI…Adam Matthews…2 2B, 3B…Christian Walker…3 RBI…Adrian Morales…3 RBI
What to Take From the Weekend…If you take anything other than excitement and satisfaction from the weekend, you must not understand how good Florida is. It is early in the season, but that series win was huge. It could be a weekend that changes the trajectory of the whole season.
It’s time to increase the expectations for this season. A home regional should be a goal, but it’s probably time to shoot for a national seed. After that it’s just a question of getting hot at the right time.
That being said, there are still some concerns. The pitching rotation still isn’t set, and that didn’t seem to matter this weekend, but it’ll need to be figured out for the rest of the season. If that’s our biggest complaint the rest of the way, it should be another fun season.
This and That…South Carolina improves to 18-5 overall, 4-2 in conference…Florida had won 13 consecutive SEC series coming into this weekend….Runs…SC: 14, FL: 7…Hits…SC: 23, FL: 20…LOB…SC: 21, FL: 23…Errors… SC: 1, FL: 4…Double Plays…SC: 5, FL: 1
Up next…South Carolina returns home for the week. They host The Citadel on Wednesday at 7pm. This weekend Kentucky comes to town for games at 7, 4:30 and 1:30.
