Gamecocks clinch first round bye with 4-2 victory
TUSCALOOSA, ALA.—South Carolina gets a day off and it still can lift the hardware. That’s what the Gamecocks learned after holding on to beat Alabama 4-2 Friday.
The Gamecocks (41-13, 19-9 SEC) took care of the Crimson Tide to win their first road series since sweeping Ole Miss on March 26 and clinch a top four seed in the SEC Tournament next week.
The seed gives them a first round bye, which means they will not have to play until Wednesday. It also keeps them alive for the SEC regular season title in a dead heat with Texas A&M, Mississippi State and Florida mostly.
“I think it says we’ve had a great regular season,” head coach Chad Holbrook said. “It’s the goal every year to win a championship or finish in the top four. We have a chance to do both tomorrow. I couldn’t be happier for our team and the position we’re in and we’ll try to see if we have enough in the tank to play a great game tomorrow.”
The Gamecocks went up early in the first inning behind three straight two-out singles, including a RBI single from Jonah Bride. The Tide would tie the game in the next half inning on a solo homer from Georgie Salem.
It wasn’t until the fifth inning that the Gamecocks would take the lead again. Stepping up with a man on and no outs, John Jones blasted a two-run home run to right field. Dom Thompson-Williams would also homer in the sixth inning to put the score at 4-1.
It was Jones’ first home run since March 20 against Arkansas and proved to be the go-ahead RBIs. Jones, who has been in a slump through most of SEC play, summed up his home run in a few short words.
“I finally found the barrel,” he said.
Alabama wouldn’t score again until the eighth inning, but it wasn’t for lack of trying.
After the first inning, the Tide would have runners on base in five of the last eight innings. They left 12 runners on, hitting just 1-for-10 (.100) with runners in scoring position.
South Carolina pitchers got into jam after jam, and it affected their pitch counts. Starting pitcher Braden Webb had 70 pitches through three innings, having to work out of runners-on situations all night.
He would throw 34 pitches through three innings, leaving the game in the seventh after 104 pitches. He earned his tenth win of the season and now leads the team with a 10-4 record.
“I just wanted to come out there and slow the game down. And slow myself down because I felt like I was rushing it through those first three innings,” the freshman said. “I was trying to stay in the game as long as possible to help my team win. Having that many pitches that early on is not something I need to go if I want to do that.”
Webb worked out of a bases loaded jam in the third inning and didn’t give up a run. He gave way in the seventh to Josh Reagan, who had to work out of his own bases-loaded conundrum in the eighth to preserve the lead.
Reagan would walk one runner in, but the Tide did no other damage. After the game, Webb said he hoped he could go into the seventh inning and take some pressure off of the relievers, but the bullpen stepped up again.
Tyler Johnson got the final out of the game on a strikeout and picked up his eighth save of the season.
“I know that there are other guys that are going to be electric,” he said. “Josh Reagan came in and did a great job and you can always count on Tyler Johnson to throw strikes and that’s what we needed him to do. We still have a lot of guys in the bullpen that can throw strikes when we need them. I’m not worried about that.”
South Carolina now has 19 conference wins, the most since winning 22 in 2011. With a win tomorrow, the Gamecocks would get their first sweep since April 24 against Missouri. The win and Texas A&M and Mississippi State losses would make them SEC co-champions.
Riding the wave of confidence from Friday’s game should help as the Gamecocks play for an SEC title Saturday with first pitch scheduled for 3 p.m. EST.
“It was a team win and it was a very important game for a lot of reasons,” Holbrook said. “The fact we can do it on the road as a group makes it even more special. So we’ll strap it on tomorrow and try to find a way to win another one.”
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