For the first time since facing James Madison in 1983, the Gamecocks lost their regional opener game, losing 5-4. Despite an early 4-0 lead, South Carolina couldn't get a win against Rhode Island on Friday night.
Against a Second Team All-American in Rhode Island’s Tyler Wilson, the Gamecocks had one of their strongest first innings all season. Leadoff Gene Cone dinged one over the right field wall to open the scoring.
Three batters later, designated hitter Alex Destino stepped up to the plate and was almost hit by one of Wilson’s wild pitches. But the lefty was not rattled as he plated himself and Dom Thompson-Williams, who had doubled, with another home run, giving the Gamecocks a quick 3-0 lead.
Wilson’s struggles didn’t stop there. The sophomore had control issues early on, hitting Marcus Mooney with a pitch and throwing a couple more wild pitches.
The Rams came back in the top of the fourth and halved the Gamecocks’ lead in just two pitches. Right fielder Ryan Olmo hit Clarke Schimdt’s pitch over the wall, and the next pitch to first baseman Brett McManus followed suit to make the game 4-2.
The situation didn’t get much better for Schmidt as he maneuvered himself into a jam. In the fifth inning, Schmidt had the bases loaded against him and gave up a single that allowed Rhode Island’s Laurence Hill to score.
Coach Chad Holbrook pulled Schmidt in the fifth with no outs in favor of Reed Scott.
That didn’t ice the Rams, though. Dom Thompson-Williams dropped a diving attempt in center field, allowing two runners to score. The Gamecocks couldn’t respond, and at the end of the fifth inning, URI led 5-4.
Holbrook made another pitching change in the top of the sixth as Taylor Widener came out to attempt to hold the deficit at one. He breezed through the sixth, only facing four batters.
On the other side, Wilson settled in nicely for the Rams. While he was already at 74 pitches at the end of the fourth inning, he didn’t hit 100 pitches until the last batter of the sixth. From the fourth through the seventh innings, he only faced 16 batters, as opposed to the 16 batters faced in the first three. He recorded 11 strikeouts during his time, puzzling the South Carolina batters.
URI, who are now 26-0 when leading after seven innings, led 5-4 after the seventh inning stretch.
And that trend continued as the Gamecocks couldn’t get any more runs in the last innings.
South Carolina didn’t have much luck against reliever Nick Johnson. Johnson retired all three batters he faced in the eighth and was replaced by Tyler Barss in the ninth after walking Mooney to begin the inning. Barss mowed down the final three Gamecocks to earn the save.
The Gamecocks now have to win four games in three days in order to advance. The quest for Omaha continues Saturday as South Carolina will take on Duke at noon.