Gamecocks stunned in ninth inning as Florida steals Game 1
Everything lined up perfectly for South Carolina as they sought to topple top-ranked Florida in the high-anticipated opener of a three-game showdown series.
Then the ninth inning happened.
Closer Josh Reagan, aiming for his SEC-leading 12th save, surrendered a pair of solo homers in the top of the ninth as Florida stunned the Gamecocks, 5-4, Friday night before 7,948 fans in the series opener to even the race atop the SEC East standings.
USC fell to 33-9 overall, 14-5 in the conference
“It was a very difficult loss,” USC coach Chad Holbrook said following the game. “We put ourselves in position to win and we didn’t get it done. Our guys played hard, but we made a couple of mistakes that opened the door for them.
“We didn’t locate a couple of pitches and didn’t make a defensive play (earlier in the game). Great teams make you pay when you don’t execute. When we made a mistake, they made us pay for it. Obviously, they are the No. 1 team in the country for a reason.”
The tying and game-winning homers were both no-doubters and came off the bats of two Gators that had combined for one homer all season.
Worse, the game-winning homer, which sailed over the Florida bullpen and caromed off the concrete walkway beyond the left-field fence, was struck by Nick Horvath, who had exactly three at-bats in SEC play entering Friday night’s game.
Horvath’s season batting average coming into the game? .133 (2-15).
“Josh is a winner and he wears his emotions on his sleeve,” Holbrook said. “I’m sure he is hurting right now, like we all are. He has invested a ton. There is no harder worker on our team than Josh Reagan nor anybody who cares more about that uniform or this program than Josh Reagan.”
Holbrook defended the decision to bring in Reagan after Tyler Johnson had mowed down all five Florida batters he faced after replacing Gamecocks starter Clarke Schmidt with one out in the top of the seventh.
“I thought about (leaving Johnson in for the ninth) but Reagan has been our guy,” Holbrook said. “The numbers went into (the decision). The splits from batting averages and where they were in order said go to a lefthander. So, I played the numbers. In baseball, when you play the numbers sometimes it works and sometimes they don’t. Tonight, they didn’t work.”
The bottom of the ninth proved just as frustrating for the Gamecocks as the top half of the inning.
After a leadoff single by LT Tolbert, Marcus Mooney failed to get a sacrifice bunt attempt down and eventually grounded into a 6-4-3 double play.
Gene Cone, who earlier extended his hitting streak to 28 games, drew a walk to bring Dom Thompson-Williams to the plate. The junior from Sioux City, Iowa drove a pitch to the base of the left field wall, where it was caught for the third out.
Issuing a two-out walk proved costly for Florida starter Logan Shore in the bottom of the first inning when Alex Destino ripped a two-run homer that barely slipped over the right field wall, ricocheting off the railing back onto the field, creating confusion for a moment.
After walking Florida’s leadoff batter in the top of the first, Schmidt retired 17 of the next 18 Florida batters. The junior worked 6.1 innings, allowing five hits and three runs with six strikeouts.
Gamecock catcher Chris Cullen picked a good time for his first career homer as he led off the bottom of the fifth with a solo shot off the railing above the left field wall to give the Gamecocks a 3-0 lead.
Cullen finished with three hits – two doubles and a homer – and was the lone Gamecock player with multiple hits.
“He is so good behind the plate that when he gives us something offensively, it’s a big boost for us,” Holbrook said. “Hopefully, that will give him some confidence going forward and he can give us some offense from that position the rest of the year. He needs to be a little more consistent, but tonight was a good start against that pitching staff. He makes our team better when he swings the bat.”
Cullen’s three-hit night (tied his season high) raised his batting average 19 points to .271 (29-107).
Subsequent to Cullen’s roundtripper, the Gamecocks loaded the bases with one out on an infield single, walk and single to right, handing them an opportunity to blow the game open with another hit.
But John Jones (0-3, 1 BB, 3 strikeouts) fanned for the second time before Florida brought in a southpaw to face Destino.
The strategy worked as the sophomore slugger flied to deep center for the third out.
USC stranded seven runners in the contest.
“We made things a lot tougher than we should have,” Holbrook said. “We had runners in scoring position with one out several times and we couldn’t push another run across. Certainly, the opportunity was there to win the game, but we didn’t capitalize offensively or defensively. You have to take advantage of your opportunities against a great team. Tonight we didn’t.”
Asked about Jones and his recent struggles, Holbrook acknowledged he was “thinking about a lot of things,” adding he had “the utmost confidence” in Jones.
“He’s struggling right now,” Holbrook said. “He came up in a few big spots tonight (and didn’t deliver). No one feels worse about it than he does. He is one of our better hitters going through a difficult time. He just has to execute a little better. If he gets back to who he is, we have a darn good team offensively.”
Just as the Gamecocks exploited a two-out walk in the bottom of the first, the Gators took advantage of a two-out error by USC first baseman L.T. Tolbert in the top of the sixth.
Moments after the error, JJ Schwarz hammered a Schmidt pitch into the upper left field bleachers for a two-run homer, slicing USC’s lead to 3-2.
Cullen continued his torrid night in the bottom of the sixth by following a leadoff double by Bride and perfectly executed sacrifice bunt by Madison Stokes with a hard double down the third base line for his third hit and second RBI of the night. Bride scored to give USC a 4-2 lead.
A walk and consecutive singles by Florida plated the Gators’ third run in the top of the seventh shortly after Schmidt threw his 100th pitch.
Johnson replaced Schmidt and again demonstrated why he has MLB scouts drooling, holding Florida hitless in 1.2 innings. He needed only 16 pitches to record five outs.
All that did, though, was set the stage for a forgettable ninth inning from beginning to end for the Gamecocks.
“It’s difficult right now, but our guys are resilient and have handed adversity all year long,” Holbrook said. “They’ll flush it. I’ll know a little more about them when they come to the park. I told them that if they come to the park tomorrow with their head tucked between your legs, you’ll turn one loss into two in a hurry.
“Hopefully, they’ll come to the park tomorrow in the right frame of mind ready to give their best effort and play their best ball.”
LINESCORE
FLA (37-6) – 000 002 102 = 5-8-0
USC (33-9) – 200 011 000 = 4-9-1
WP – Dane Dunning (3-2)
LP – Josh Reagan (1-2)
SV – Shaun Anderson (10)
HR – USC, Ales Destino (1st, 1 on), Chris Cullen (5th, none on); FLA, Schwarz (6th, one on), Jonathan India (9th, none on), Nick Horvath (9th, none on).
RBI – Alex Destino (2), Cullen (2).
LOB – USC 7, FLA 6
A – 7,948.
Time – 3:05
Gamecock Pitchers: Clarke Schmidt (6.1 IP, 104 pitches), Tyler Johnson (1.2 IP, 16 pitches), Josh Reagan (1.0, 21 pitches)
HOW THE RUNS SCORED:
USC 1st – Cone grounded to first, DTW struckout, Jones walked, Destino homered to right (2 RBI), Bride struckout. TWO RUNS, ONE HIT (USC 2-0).
USC 5th – Cullen homered to left (RBI), Tolbert flied to center, Mooney singled to shortstop, Cone walked, DTW singled to right, Jones struckout, Destino flied to center. ONE RUN, THREE HITS (USC 3-0).
FLA 6th - Larson grounded to second, Guthrie grounded to shortstop, Liput reached on a fielding error (E3), Schwarz homered to left (2 RBI), Alonso singled up the middle, Reed flied to left. TWO RUNS, TWO HITS (USC 3-2).
USC 6th – Bride doubled to right, Stokes sacrificed (2-4), Cullen doubled down RF line (RBI), Tolbert struckout and reached on wild pitch, Mooney grounded into 5-3 double play. ONE RUN, TWO HITS (USC 4-2).
FLA 7th – India grounded out to first, Rivera walked, Maldonado singled to left, Vasquez (PH) singled to center (RBI), <Johnson for Schmidt>, Guthrie popped to shortstop, Liput popped to second. ONE RUN, TWO HITS (USC 4-3).
FLA 9th – <Reagan for Johnson>, India homered to left (RBI), Rivera flied to center, Maldonado flied to left, Horvath homered to left (RBI), Guthrie doubled to right-center, Liput struck out. TWO RUNS, THREE HITS (FLA 5-4).
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