By Trey McCurry.
Trey McCurry
CLEMSON — Here is a look back at South Carolina’s 6-0 win over Clemson at Doug Kingsmore Stadium on Friday night.
What happened?
The Gamecocks turned three Tiger errors into five unearned runs on the way to a 6-0 win.
Game-Changing Moment:
With two outs in the bottom of the fifth inning, Garrett Boulware sent a line drive to the leftfield fence. The ball stayed in the park and Boulware was thrown out at third to end the inning. Despite an argument from Coach Leggett, the umpires stood by the call and you could almost feel the momentum shift in the stadium.
Story Line:
The big news on Friday was the lack of hitting by the Tigers and some uncharacteristic errors in the field. Of Clemson’s 27 outs, only three were on ground balls while Gamecock pitchers had 12 strikeouts. South Carolina also turned two costly errors in the seventh & eighth innings into five unearned runs on only two hits.
Turning Point:
The turning point in the game came in the seventh inning. With the one out and the Gamecocks leading 1-0, TJ Costen lifted a routine fly ball into left field that Shane Kennedy, making his first start in the field, dropped for a two-base error. The wheels then fell off for the Tigers as the three batters walked and after a sac fly, South Carolina had stretched their lead to 3-0.
What went right?
Daniel Gossett turned in another good start despite taking the loss, going 6.1 innings and allowing only one earned run on three hits. Zack Erwin also looked good in relief, retiring all three batters he faced.
What went wrong?
The Tigers again struggled at the plate as they had only three hits in the contest. Clemson batters struck out 12 times, often chasing pitches out of the zone, and hit too many fly ball outs. The defense, which had been solid most of the year, majorly struggled with three critical errors that led to five unearned runs.
They said it.
Clemson Head Coach Jack Leggett
“We had a good game going through the sixth and then we gave up five unearned runs. That’s going to hurt you. We had been playing really good defense, but we hurt ourselves a couple of times tonight.”
Clemson Sophomore Righthander Daniel Gossett
“That’s baseball. It happens. You can’t fall apart after that. That’s just baseball. You have to come back and make your pitches, but I let it get in my head and I didn’t make my pitches.”
Clemson Sophomore Catcher Garrett Boulware
“We just have to play our game. We don’t need to think we are playing Carolina, but that we are playing Clemson baseball and that is our opponent. We just need to play the way we know how to play and things will go our way. We let one thing lead to another. We just need to move past it and tomorrow will be a better day.”