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An uphill battle? Nothing new for the Gamecocks

Chris Gillespie/GamecockCentral.com

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It’s nothing new for the Gamecocks.

After facing elimination games all last weekend, the Gamecocks will now have to face two more if they want to punch their ticket to the College World series.

South Carolina lost to Oklahoma State in game one of the Columbia Super Regional 5-1 on Saturday. The Cowboy win moves them one step closer to Omaha and the Gamecocks one closer to elimination.

Now the host team will have to rattle off back-to-back wins against the visitors to avoid being eliminated.

“You play three games for a reason. With this team, we’re never out of it,” outfielder Dom Thompson-Williams said. “We did it last weekend and that definitely gives us motivation to do it this weekend. I don’t think any heads will be down, and I think we’ll be fired up to go tomorrow.”

They will have to win two games against an Oklahoma State team that bashed two home runs, including a three-run shot in the eighth, on Saturday and against pitching that limited the Gamecocks to one run on six hits and blanked the Gamecocks through eight innings.

The Cowboys will likely start right-hander Tyler Buffett (7-3, 3.34 ERA) tomorrow. The junior has started three games this season and hasn’t allowed more than two runs in those starts.

He’s thrown 67.1 innings this year and has given up 31 runs while striking out 12. His most recent start against Clemson he gave up seven hits and allowed one run.

That’s the team South Carolina will try and beat tomorrow and Monday to stave off elimination. They will need to win both games the rest of the weekend to do that.

“Am I upset we lost the game? Yeah. We could have played better. But sometimes the opponent has something to do with that. And today it did,” head coach Chad Holbrook said. “They played better than we played. But we have an opportunity in front of us. It’s not time to plunk our head between our tails and cry. We play 18 innings of great baseball who knows what’s going to happen. That’s the attitude you have to have and I hope that’s the attitude our players have.”

Of the Gamecocks six NCAA Tournament games this year, four have been elimination games with one more scheduled for tomorrow. Last weekend in the regional, South Carolina rattled off four wins in elimination games to advance to the supers.

In those four games, the Gamecocks outscored their opponents 47-10 and had a team batting average of .461. And after having to go through the onslaught of a losers bracket last weekend and staring down the barrel at two more elimination games over two days, the team feels right at home this weekend.

“We’re tough,” Thompson-Williams said. “We play hard no matter what inning it is, no matter how many runs we’re down. The outcome will come as it may but I think our team is strong. I believe in our team and I think everybody else believes in our team. That’s motivation.”

Now that the Gamecocks are 0-1 in a Super Regional, they face another uphill battle. Since switching over to a Super Regional format, only thirty of possible 136 teams have gone on to win a Super Regional after losing the first game.

South Carolina will try to be the 31st.

First pitch Sunday is slated for 3 p.m. Both remaining games are at home, which for Holbrook at the Gamecocks, is one of the biggest advantages a team can have.

“You look a percentages, the odds aren’t in our favor obviously,” Holbrook said. “We get to play at Founders Park for two games with a chance to go to the College World Series. Daggum it. Sign me up.”

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