South Carolina dropped its rivalry matchup against No. 15 Clemson for the third year in a row over the weekend. The Gamecocks were able to capitalize on some Clemson miscues Friday in the 7-0 shutout win, but they stalled offensively in games 2 and 3 in the series.
South Carolina combined for just 16 hits in the series and was 8-24 with runners in scoring position.
Offensively, Friday’s 7-0 win for South Carolina was somewhat of an outlier compared to the overall productivity of the staff so far this season. The Gamecocks scored seven runs off four hits, with five of the runs being scored on wild pitches and throwing errors.
The Clemson pitching staff rebounded after its first loss of the season and helped push the Tigers to their third straight series win against South Carolina. South Carolina was not able to capitalize on free passes for the rest of the series, a major determining factor in the rivalry.
Senior left-hander Michael Sharman, who pitched a complete game with 85.9% of his pitches called for strikes, cooled off the Gamecock offense Saturday. The productive outing from Sharman also saw 11 groundouts and 11 flyouts for South Carolina as well.
“When we hit early in the counts, sometimes we made pretty good contact, but this park plays big, and we hit several balls to the deepest parts of the field and just couldn’t keep the ball out of the air,” head coach Paul Mainieri said.
After taking an early 1-0 lead in the third inning off an RBI single from senior outfielder Ethan Lizama, the bats went cold. Clemson answered right back in the bottom of the third and held South Carolina to only four hits total, with Lizama and freshman second baseman Will Craddock each having two.
It was more of the same for the garnet and black during the Sunday finale. The Gamecocks only had four hits and two runs in a day that saw mainly bullpen action for both programs. The Clemson pitching staff struck out eight batters and only allowed two walks to South Carolina.
Additionally, there were three South Carolina players who did not record a single hit during the series. Clemson was able to limit one of the team's top hitters in fifth-year catcher Talmadge LeCroy.
LeCroy reached base safely five times with three walks and two hit-by-pitches in the series and scored one run, but he was unable to find a hit over the weekend. Junior outfielder Tyler Bak (0-5) and sophomore first baseman Beau Hollins (0-10) also struggled offensively and did not record hits either.
The Gamecocks avoided getting swept for the third straight year following a dominant pitching performance from juniors Josh Gunther and Alex Valentin on Friday.
One bright spot of the series was the emergence of Gunther, who could be the next potential weekend starter after his outing Friday night. In his first-ever collegiate start, Gunther went seven innings with 10 strikeouts and one walk in the 7-0 shutout win.
Both starting pitchers struggled on the mound for the Gamecocks in their short outings Saturday and Sunday. Junior right-hander Amp Phillips made his third start on Saturday at Segra Park and earned his first loss of the season after giving up all four earned runs in 3.1 innings.
Redshirt freshman Riley Goodman made his first Sunday start after making both Friday starts so far this season. Goodman has dropped to 0-2 on the season after giving up three earned runs in his two innings of work against Clemson.
"I don't know what to say," Mainieri said. "Four hits a game for three straight games is obviously something that we got to get better at. You need a phenomenal starting pitching performance if you're only going to get four hits in a game."