South Carolina crawled into its matchup with Presbyterian College Tuesday after being swept by No. 10 Florida in Gainesville.
A few hours before Tuesday’s first pitch, things went from bad to worse for the struggling Gamecocks as the team announced that sophomore pitcher Wil Crowe would undergo season-ending Tommy John surgery to repair a torn UCL in his elbow.
The Gamecocks were down to their final two outs before scoring in the bottom of the ninth inning to tie the game 4-4. However, the Gamecocks left the bases loaded and gave up three runs in the 10th inning, losing 7-4.
The loss puts the Gamecocks at 23-15 after beginning the season 17-3.
The Blue Hose struck first with four runs in the second inning off freshman right-hander Tyler Johnson. Johnson lasted just 1.2 innings in his first collegiate start.
The bulk of the Gamecock offense came from freshman third baseman Madison Stokes, junior second baseman Max Schrock and senior right fielder Elliott Caldwell who went a combined 7-14 with three runs and two RBIs.
Caldwell’s single in the third inning scored Stokes and Schrock to put the score at 4-2. Junior shortstop DC Arendas pulled the Gamecocks within one with a sixth inning sacrifice fly that scored Caldwell.
In the ninth inning, sophomore Gene Cone drew a one out walk before Stokes reached first on an error and Schrock hit a single. Cone scored on a fielding error on Schrock's single. However, the Gamecocks failed to score even when loading the bases with one out.
Tuesday was the fifth straight game in which the Gamecocks scored five runs or less.
South Carolina will host No. 5 Vanderbilt for a three-game series beginning Thursday at 7:30 p.m.