The Gamecocks took the field in front of a crowd of 7,507 fans at Founders Park Friday for their 2019 season opener, where South Carolina fell 5-6 during 11 innings of play.
Right-handed sophomore Carmen Mlodzinski was given the start for the Gamecocks, while the Flames gave the ball to junior Andrew McInvale, who also throws with his right arm.
South Carolina took an early 3-0 lead after a three-run home run by freshman designated hitter Brady Allen in his first career at bat. Head coach Mark Kingston said that he was not surprised at Allen's early success.
"He's a freshman that is a very mature hitter," Kingston said. "He has a chance to be a nice hitter in this program."
TJ Hopkins was also able to put a ball over the wall. He homered in the bottom of the eighth inning to give the Gamecocks a one run lead going into the top of the ninth.
South Carolina had Liberty down to their final out down by a run. However, closer Sawyer Bridges was unable to get that final out before Will Wagner came back with a solo shot of his own to tie the game up and force extra innings.
“We were one pitch, one out away," Sawyer said. "Just couldn't get the job done."
The game carried on until the 11th inning, where a two-out passed ball thrown by sophomore left-handed pitcher John Gilreath let the ultimate game-winning run cross home plate.
"It was just a pitch that bounced at a place we couldn't block it, and you can't have that," Kingston said. "That's just not acceptable,."
Passed balls were not the only struggle for the Gamecocks on the mound, as starting pitcher Carmen Mlodzinski threw 96 pitches in a little more than four innings' worth of work. He also gave up six hits, three runs, and three walks.
Kingston said Mlodzinski didn’t have the swing and miss pitch today, which led to his less-than-stellar outing on the bump.
The Gamecocks also struggled at the plate, especially at the top of the order. The first four batters combined for 10 strikeouts, 5 of which belonged to preseason All-SEC first team selection Noah Campbell.
The majority of the offense for South Carolina came from the middle of the lineup. Freshman designated hitter Brady Allen and senior third baseman Jacob Olson were the only Gamecocks who notched multi-hit games. Allen had the three run shot ad a single while Olson was able to string together a pair of doubles.
Gilreath picked up the loss for South Carolina, while senior right-handed relief pitcher Evan Braband picked up the win for Liberty.
Despite the loss, senior TJ Hopkins hopes the team can put this game out of their minds and move forward with the rest of the season, he said.
The Gamecocks will meet the Liberty Flames again on Feb. 16 and Feb. 17 at Founders Park. First pitch is scheduled to be thrown at 3 p.m Saturday and 1:30 p.m. on Sunday.