FINAL: Road Woes Continue To Persist For Gamecocks In 13-6 Loss To No. 16 Alabama

Andrew Lyon | Mar 29, 2024

South Carolina High School baseball / Ken Ruinard / staff / USA TODAY NETWORK

After losing yet another road game by one run to begin the series against No. 16 Alabama on Thursday night, Mark Kingston and the South Carolina Gamecocks came into Friday night looking to force a rubber match for the three-game set tomorrow afternoon. Although the fight was there in spurts, Carolina was unable to string together enough successful innings both on the mound and at the plate, which culminated in their second SEC series loss of the season.

After a relatively quiet first two and a half innings of play, the Tide would take their goose egg off the scoreboard in the third inning, lighting up Dylan Eskew for five runs on four hits, including a two-run blast to left centerfield, leading to Eskew getting pulled for Matthew Becker before the conclusion of the third inning. The Gamecocks would mount a response in the fifth inning via a 2-RBI single from Parker Noland and a two-run shot from Cole Messina that would hit the top of the scoreboard, cutting the Alabama lead down to one run. Although the Crimson Tide would get one run back in the bottom half of the same inning, South Carolina would make it a brand new ballgame in the sixth, scoring one run each off a fielder's choice and passed ball to notch things up at six a piece.

With Becker continuing to mow down Bama's batting lineup on the mound, the Gamecocks would be given a golden opportunity in the seventh inning to take the lead, with Tyler Causey drawing a walk and then advancing to second base off a passed ball. However, neither of the next three Carolina batters could even advance Causey to third base, something that, in a way, would come back to haunt Kingston's squad by the end of the night.

In the following inning, after pitching nearly flawlessly in his outing, Becker would get shellacked by the Tide, allowing each of the first four batters he faced to reach base, two of them via doubles, which led to three runs being scored. Parker Marlatt would follow that up by giving up an RBI-sacrifice fly and two-run homer, making it 13-6 Alabama, a margin that put the game out of reach for the Gamecocks. South Carolina will look to keep their conference record above .500 and avoid a series sweep at 2 PM EDT tomorrow afternoon.

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