The Gamecocks baseball team (20-13, 3-9 SEC) entered Founders Park coming off of a series loss to Alabama. South Carolina only had four hits in the 9-0 shutout loss in the first game of last Saturday’s doubleheader and a season-low three hits in the 4-1 loss in the second game.
South Carolina also did not come up with big innings in midweek games, including last month when the Gamecocks fell to the North Carolina A&T Aggies in a 2-0 shutout loss.
Going into Tuesday night's game against Charlotte (12-19-1, 3-8-1 C-USA), South Carolina only got one run off of one hit through the first four innings and were down 3-1 at the end of the top frame of the fifth.
But the South Carolina bats came back in the bottom half of the fifth, leading to a 5-4 win over the 49ers at Founders Park.
“I just think it took us a while to get into the flow of that game,” head coach Mark Kingston said. “We’re working so much on the manufacturing of runs that sometimes young hitters go too far to one end of the spectrum, so we’re trying to find that middle zone for our hitters.”
Prior to the fifth inning, the Gamecocks' lone hit came from freshman outfielder Brady Allen on an RBI single. Afterwards, the South Carolina offense had difficulty hitting against a struggling pitcher in 49ers freshman Mason Herbert, who came into Tuesday’s game with an ERA of 10.80 and only five strikeouts on the year, compared to 14 runs allowed by the Charlotte right-hander.
The Gamecocks were able to get five runners on in the first four innings, but were unable to score but one run against Herbert.
After the 49ers took Herbert off the mound in the fifth, South Carolina racked up two hits to tie the ballgame up at three runs apiece at the end of the inning.
South Carolina secured the win after scoring its last run in the seventh inning.
The Gamecocks will will head to Alfred A. McKethan Stadium in Gainesville, Florida on Thursday to take on the Florida Gators for a three-game series. First pitch is set for 7:30 p.m. and can be seen on ESPNU.
“You know what you get when you play Florida,” Kingston said. “You’re going to get outstanding pitching with a bunch of power arms, you’re going to get an opportunistic offense, you’re going to get a very, very good athletic defense ... it’ll be a tremendous challenge.”