Rebels falter in finale after claiming series
OXFORD | South Carolina and Ole Miss switched roles on Sunday, as the Gamecocks salvaged the final game of the series.
Ole Miss held the Gamecocks to a combined 2-for-22 with runners in scoring position the first two days, but South Carolina had six hits with runners on in this one, while the Rebels went 1-for-12 with runners on including just 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position.
The result was a 6-2 South Carolina win to keep Ole Miss from sweeping the weekend. It broke the Rebels’ nine-game winning streak and was Ole Miss’ first Sunday home loss of the four-weekend homestand.
“We just didn’t play well enough,” Mike Bianco said. “We talked about this at length last year that if you don’t play well, you lose in this league. It’s the beauty and the difficulty of this league. We didn’t do much offensively and couldn’t capitalize.”
Ole Miss (15-6, 2-1) faces USM in Pearl on Tuesday and is at Tennessee next in SEC play. South Carolina (15-5, 1-2) hosts Vanderbilt.
Grayson Saunier had allowed just one run in his previous 14.2 innings, including 10 straight scoreless, but he gave up nine hits and six runs — five earned — in 4.1 innings. He struck out two, walked one and threw 55 of 83 pitches for strikes.
“They got bats on the ball and sometimes with a good offense that happens,” Bianco said. “Some of the hits weren’t hit hard, but some of the outs were… At the end of the day he competed and gave us a shot. We didn’t support him.”
Carolina led 3-0 in the fifth with two on when Bianco went to put JT Quinn in the game for Saunier. Quinn injured his __ on his final warmup pitch, and since he wasn’t in the game, there was no time to get Austin Simmons loose before the next at-bat.
Talmadge LeCroy doubled in two runs a batter later, and then Simmons came into the game. A Jackson Ross error added another run in the inning.
“He was coming in right then and something happened,” Bianco said.
Bianco confirmed Quinn injured his back in the bullpen and said the right-hander had no previous issue with it.
Carolina starter Roman Kimball walked five in 1.2 innings, but the Rebels couldn’t scratch a run. Treyson Hughes struck out, chasing would-be ball four with two on in the first, and Andrew Fischer popped up to end the second after three walks loaded the bases.
“I was one of them and swung at a ball that I definitely shouldn’t have swung at,” Hughes said. “We got him off the mound, but it was only the walks. We didn’t do anything to get him off the mound.”
Matthew Becker gave up two runs in 5.1 relief innings for Carolina. Ole Miss got it to a four-run game when Hughes Tripled after an Ethan Lege in the sixth, followed by a Luke Hill ground out. The Rebels only got one more runner in scoring position the rest of the way.
Mitch Murrell threw 1.1 scoreless relief innings, and Kyler Carmack, in his third appearance of the year, kept Carolina scoreless for the final 2.2 innings.
“Good teams show up, and we didn’t really show up,” Hughes said. “They punch us in the back, and we fought back but not enough.”