Things aren’t getting any easier for South Carolina.
Needing a good showing this past weekend, the Gamecocks instead continued to slide in SEC play, getting swept by No. 10 Florida in Gainesville, and none of the games were very close.
South Carolina lost 14-3 in the series opener on Friday, 12-5 on Saturday and 12-2 on Sunday.
Gamecocks head coach Chad Holbrook’s team has now dropped four consecutive SEC series and No. 20 South Carolina was outscored 38-10 in the three games against the Gators.
Losing nine of their last 12 conference games, South Carolina is in the midst of a tough stretch and now finds itself in 5th place in the SEC East standings.
To make matters worse, the Gamecocks have to host SEC front-runner Vanderbilt next week after playing Presbyterian.
“We have some games in front of us and we are going to try like crazy to finish on a strong note,” Holbrook said. “9-6 in the last 15 (SEC) games, that’s going to be the message. If we do, we’ll have a shot.”
Because of their recent skid, the Gamecocks’ chances of hosting a Regional in the NCAA tournament are continuously dropping, and South Carolina’s play against Florida only made matters worst.
“I thought we’d be more competitive,” Holbrook told The Big Spur. “They had an incredible weekend swinging the bats. We ran into a buzz saw and we’ll try to regroup.”
South Carolina struggled to manufacture runs throughout the weekend against a talented Florida pitching staff, while the Gators feasted on the Gamecock pitching.
South Carolina’s top two pitchers, sophomore Wil Crowe and junior Jack Wynkoop, both struggled against the Gators.
Crowe surrendered seven earned runs in 4.1 innings of work on Friday, while Wynkoop pitched 5.2 innings on Saturday, giving up eight earned runs.
Holbrook inserted sophomore pitcher Taylor Widener, the Gamecocks’ usual closer, into the starting rotation on Sunday, but the Aiken, South Carolina, native lasted only 3.1 innings as Florida earned four runs off of him.
Although Widener hadn’t started before Sunday, Holbrook felt he gave South Carolina its best chance to win.
“We just wanted to give the ball to the guy we best thought would get us off to the best start,” Holbrook said. “He threw a good first inning and then we had some walks in there and you can’t walk those guys, they make you pay.”
While South Carolina struggled as a whole against Florida, senior first baseman Kyle Martin played well and batted a combined 7-12 over the weekend, while hitting for the cycle on Saturday.
“I feel terrible that we are not doing enough around him both offensively, defensively and on the mound to support him some more,” Holbrook said. “He was terrific tonight and has been terrific pretty much all year long.”