South Carolina's previous 13-game winning streak had been epitomized by clean baseball and clutch hitting, but only the latter was on display in their 6-5 loss to the College of Charleston. Multiple late-inning rallies for the Gamecocks pushed the game into the 13th inning, but costly mental and physical errors ultimately allowed the Cougars to snap their streak.
In the final inning, College of Charleston shortstop Luke Manzo grounded back to reliever Cannan Cropper, who didn't look at runner Ryan Brown long enough on third base. Cropper threw too quickly to first and allowed Brown capitalize on his mistake as he scored the winning run.
After the Gamecocks managed just four hits through the first eight innings, a dramatic ninth inning sent the game into extra innings. With two outs and runners on the corners, left fielder Alex Destino doubled to centerfield to tie the game at 4. The hit was ruled a ground-rule double and pinch runner Danny Blair was only allowed to advance two bases, and thus was not able to score the winning run. Destino picked up three doubles on the night and extended his hitting streak to 18 games.
College of Charleston regained the lead in the top of the 12th inning when center fielder Morgan Phillips hit a home run to centerfield. The Cougars were unable to maintain that lead when second baseman Dupree Hart misplayed a groundball that allowed pinch runner Clark Scolamiero to score.
Sophomore Tyler Haswell picked up his first start of the season and pitched three effective innings in which he allowed one run, three hits and no walks. However, Haswell did struggle to repeat his mechanics at times and left some fastballs up in the zone for the Cougars to make some hard contact.
A loss against a strong non-conference opponent should not set South Carolina back too much, but they will have to rebound and play a more complete game when they go on the road to face No. 4 Vanderbilt this weekend. The Commodores have reached the College World Series Finals in each of the last two seasons and are in the middle of what is arguably the most impressive run since the Gamecocks won back-to-back titles in 2010 and 2011. The first game is set for 7 p.m. Thursday. Jordan Sheffield and Clarke Schmidt are set to square off in what promises to be a pitching duel.
