15 Things: Florida Game 1
Leading off
--Dom Thompson-Williams hit second in the lineup for just the third time since March 1. He finished 1-for-4 with a run scored.
--Chris Cullen tied a career-high with three hits. He finished 3-for-4 with a home run and two doubles. He also tied another career high two RBIs. The home run was the first of his career.
--Gene Cone continued his record-setting hitting streak with a double in the seventh inning. He’s hit safely in 28 straight games and reached base in 31- straight.
--Josh Reagan gave up his fourth and fifth homers of the season. All five home runs have been solo shots. It was his second blown save of the season.
--Announced attendance was 7,948.
On deck
Cullen on Josh Reagan: “I was extremely confident. He’s been there for us all year getting the job done. Tonight wasn’t his night but we never lost any confidence in him. We’ve all still got his back. We have all the confidence in the world in him tonight and we still do.”
Clarke Schmidt on rebounding from the loss: We’re going to regroup and come out tomorrow. That should put a chip on our shoulder. We lost a tough one like that tonight and we’re going to come back better than ever…That’s why we play three and not one. We’ll be ready.”
Alex Destino on Reagan: “That’s the best closer in the SEC. I want him up every ninth inning if we’re up. It comes down to you have to tip your hat to them.”
Alex Destino on confidence: “We know we have our hands full with Puk and Faedo. But he pitched four-point-two innings. I don’t know if that’s his lowest of the year but I think we had a really good approach against him. And that’s a very, very talented pitcher…I liked what I saw out of my team: a lot of confident swings.”
Tyler Johnson on not coming out in the ninth: I know my job and it’s been effective all year. It’s to be able to come in before Josh…It’s baseball.”
Batting cleanup
--South Carolina blew its first ninth-inning lead of the season after Josh Reagan gave up two solo home runs to the last third of the Florida order. The bottom three hitters had an batting average of .209 and were facing the closer with an SEC-leading 11 saves.
--South Carolina’s Achilles heel all season has been runners left on base and it came back to haunt them against the Gators. The Gamecocks left seven on base, including once with the bases loaded.
--South Carolina dropped their first SEC game at home this year and are 35-2 at Founders Park. The Gamecocks are now 33-1 when leading in the ninth inning.
--The top third of the Gamecock lineup went a combined 2-for-10 with an RBI and no runs scored. John Jones continued his slump, going 0-for-3 with a walk and three strikeouts.
--South Carolina’s had success against top-notch arms and Friday was no different. They chased Florida starting pitcher Logan Shore after 4.2 innings. It was the junior’s second-shortest outing of the season. He pitched 4.1 innings against Texas A&M.
Never miss a moment with the GamecockCentral app: App Store - Google Play
