Baseball overcomes 7-run deficit for victory in first game Sunday
Coach Chad Holbrook said before the season that Athletics Director and former baseball coach Ray Tanner didn’t do him any favors scheduling Liberty as the Gamecocks’ opening weekend opponent.
In the first weekend of play for USC baseball, the Gamecocks took two out of three contests from the Liberty Flames; all three were decided by just one run.
Liberty announced its presence in the first game of Sunday’s doubleheader, which was scheduled due to the weather-related postponement of Saturday’s contest. The Flames dominated the majority of the game, racing out to a 7-0 lead after a six-run seventh inning. After that nightmarish inning for South Carolina, the team managed to compile three runs in the eighth and five more in the ninth to complete the comeback.
Senior pitcher Adam Westmoreland entered the game in relief during the seventh inning. He held Liberty scoreless in the two-plus innings he pitched and was credited with the win for the Gamecocks.
“I was just trying to go out and stay competitive,” Westmoreland said. “Try to keep it as close as possible and give us a chance to win.”
The completion of the comeback came when sophomore first baseman Kyle Martin, pinch-hitting with two outs, brought in two runs after hitting a ball off the pitcher and beating the throw to first.
“I got up there and basically tried to put the ball in play,” Martin said. “You want to get the runners in, maybe look for holes somewhere, just go up there and look for something to hit.”
Sunday proved to be an up-and-down day emotionally for both teams, beginning with the seven-run comeback in the first game. Liberty coach and former Gamecock assistant Jim Toman was ejected in the early stages of the second game, which was shortened to seven innings. The game was close throughout, ending with a failed South Carolina attempt at a second comeback and a final score of 3-2.
With the Gamecocks trailing in the seventh inning of the game, sophomore right fielder TJ Costen led off with a walk, but he was thrown out at second when sophomore center fielder Tanner English tried to advance him with a bunt. The inning ended on a strikeout-throwout double play.
“It was a long day, but that’s no excuse,” Holbrook said. “We had a chance to win, I thought (senior) Nolan Belcher pitched very well ... We didn’t have the energy I would like to see us have in game two.”
Belcher pitched 5.2 innings and allowed all three Liberty runs.
Friday saw the Gamecocks come away with a win in their first game of the season, taking the contest 4-3. Senior first baseman LB Dantzler carried South Carolina’s offense with a home run and two RBI.
Holbrook sees the 2-1 series victory as a positive for his Gamecock team in his first year as a head coach. He gives all credit for the hotly contested series to Liberty and his former staff-mate Toman.
“I think that’s an NCAA tournament team we played,” Holbrook said. “I feel very fortunate to have won the series.”