LSU celebrates its 15th SEC Championship

USC’s run at a second straight SEC Championship came up just a little short. LSU scored twice in the 10th and held off a USC rally in the bottom half of the inning to top USC 3-2 in Saturday’s series finale at Carolina Stadium.

The win gives LSU a stake of its 15th SEC title and guarantees the Tigers will have one of the top two seed in next week’s SEC Tournament. USC could still get the number two seed if Kentucky loses to Mississippi State. Florida’s loss to Auburn Saturday guarantees the Gamecocks will be no worse than a three seed in the tournament. The top two seeds get a first round bye.

Despite coming up short, USC skipper Ray Tanner said he was proud his team played itself into a position to win the title. The Gamecocks started their SEC slate by getting swept at Kentucky. They lost two of three to Florida the next week, putting them in last place in the SEC East standings.

“I’m proud of our team as well for hanging in there,” Tanner said following the game. “We made a run toward the middle of the year to get back in the conference race and ended up playing on the last day with a chance to win the whole thing. We’ve come a long way from Lexington, Kentucky.”

LSU scored its run in the first inning off Gamecock starter Colby Holmes. Arby Fields hit a one out double off the left field wall and advanced to third on a passed ball. He scored on a ground out by Mason Katz to give the Tigers a 1-0 lead on the unearned run.

Fields first inning double was the only major mistake Holmes made. After that he retired 11 straight Tiger hitters and went on to pitch 6 2/3 innings strong innings. He didn’t give up an earned run and allowed only four hits and didn’t walk a batter.

Evan Marzilli scores in the third inning to tie the game

The Gamecocks evened things up in the bottom of the third inning. Evan Marzilli led off with a triple and scored on a sacrifice fly by Adam Matthews. It looked like they pull ahead when Christian Walker put a charge in a ball to deep right field. It didn’t quite make it out of the park and Walker ended up with a one out double. The threat ended there when LB Dantzler grounded out to first and Grayson Greiner struck out looking to strand Walker.

In the 10th inning Evan Beal walked LSU’s Joey Snickeris on four pitches. Tyler Hoover used a sacrifice bunt to get Snickeris to second. It looked like Beal was going to escape the jam when Jacoby Jones lined out for the second out of the inning. But he walked the next hitter and left the game with runners on first and second with two outs.

Tyler Webb replaced Webb and gave up a single to LSU pinch hitter Jackson Slade 3-2 pitch that plated Snikeris. Mason Katz followed with another RBI single to give the Tigers an insurance run that turned out to be important.

USC made it interesting in the bottom half of the inning. Marzilli led off with a double and Matthews followed with a single. That brought Walker to the plate representing the winning run. He ended up hitting a sac fly to right field to score Marzilli. Dantzler followed with a fly ball to right for the second out and the game ended with Grayson Greiner fouling out to the first baseman.

USC finishes the regular season with a 39-15 record. They were 18-11 in the SEC. LSU finished 42-14 and 19-11 in the SEC.

BOX SCORE

AUDIO: Ray Tanner [8:44]

AUDIO: Evan Marzilli [2:35]

AUDIO: Colby Holmes [1:57]

Nolan Belcher's traditional pre-game flip was symbolic of USC's up and down day

USC rode the emotional rollercoaster Friday going from third place in the SEC East after a game one loss to LSU back into the lead for the SEC title after winning game two 5-4.  That victory coupled with Kentucky’s 4-3 loss to Mississippi State Friday night means the Gamecocks will win the SEC title by beating LSU Saturday regardless of what else happens in the league.  The Gamecocks are 18-10 in SEC play while Kentucky, Florida and LSU are 18-11. 

AUDIO:  Ray Tanner [10:18]

The Gamecocks had to battle from behind to win the nightcap of the doubleheader after dropping the opener 5-2.  LSU led 3-0 going to the bottom of the 6th but the Gamecocks turned the game around with a four run rally.

Christian Walker delivered the big blow with a mammouth three run homer to left field off LSU starter Aaron Nola, his team leading 10th homer of the season.   Later in the inning, Grayson Greiner reached on a single and scored the go ahead run on a triple by Joey Pankake. 

AUDIO:  Adam Matthews & Christian Walker [5:15]

USC made it 5-3 in the next inning.  With two outs, Evan Marzilli walked and stole second.  Adam Matthews, who had three hits, delivered Marzilli with a sharp double to left. 

That insurance run turned out to be big because the Tigers got to Gamecock ace closer Matt Price in the 8th.  Price gave up a leadoff double to the #9 hitter Tyler Hanover to open the frame.  Austin Nola then dropped a bloop single into center.  Hanover had to wait on the ball to drop and only advance to third.  Price got a pair of strikeouts before Raph Rymes singled to center to score Hanover.  Price struck out Tyler Moore to end the threat and preserve the lead.

The Tigers did not threaten in the ninth as Price struck out two more batters around a line out to second to record his 9th save of the season.  He struck out 7 of the 12 batters he faced and threw 45 pitches. 

AUDIO:  Matt Price [1:49]

AUDIO:  Michael Roth [3:44]

Tyler Webb, who relieved starter Forrest Koumas in the 5th, earned his 5th win against no defeats .  LSU starter Aaron Nola suffered the loss to fall to 6-4. 

The Gamecocks improve to 39-14 overall while LSU drops to 41-14.  The rubber game of the series will be Saturday at 1:00 PM on ESPNU.  Righthander Colby Holmes will start for USC.  LSU will go with sophomore righthander Ryan Eades. 

Box Score

Caleb Sturgeon

From USC SID:

The South Carolina men’s golf team battled extremely high winds on Friday at the NCAA Southwest Regional on its way to shooting a second-round 302 (+14) at the Jimmie Austin OU Golf Club.

The Gamecocks moved two spots up the leaderboard into eighth place with a two-round total of 596 (+20), as the field played in winds up to 30 mph for most of the day. Washington turned in a 7-under 281 to take the overall lead with a total of 567 (-9). Florida State is in second with a score of 571 (-5), followed by Texas (572), Illinois (575) and Georgia Tech (576). The top five teams will advance to the NCAA Championship.

“It’s been really frustrating to not have more than a couple of guys to play well the last two days, but on the other hand to have two of our freshmen, Caleb Sturgeon and Will Murphy, come back strong today was a positive,” South Carolina head coach Bill McDonald said. “The way the golf course was playing, we really missed an opportunity to move up the board by throwing away some shots early in the round.”

Freshman Caleb Sturgeon led the way with a solid round of even-par 72 and is tied for 43rd with a total of 152 (+8). The Laurens, S.C, native had the lowest nine-hole score of the round as he posted a 4-under 32 on the front side. He struggled at times on the back nine when the winds picked up, as did the rest of the field. He recorded bogeys on four of his first five holes before closing out his day with four straight pars.

Freshman Will Murphy overcame two double bogeys and a bogey on the front nine to fight back for a round of 2-over 74. He recorded a team-high five birdies on the day to move 18 spots up the leaderboard into a tie for 50th with a total of 153 (+9).

Senior Wesley Bryan remained in the top 20 with a 3-over 75. He will head into the final round in a tie for 13th with a score of 144 (E), which is seven shots off the lead. For the round, Bryan recorded three birdies, six bogeys and nine pars.

Freshman Sean Kelly and junior Dykes Harbin shot rounds of 81 (+9) and 83 (+11), respectively. Kelly is in a tie for 55th with a score of 154 (+10), while Harbin is tied for 64th with a total of 156 (+12).

Illinois’ Thomas Pieters holds the individual lead with a score of 137 (-7), while Florida State’s Daniel Berger is one shot back with a score of 138 (-6).

Carolina will tee off in the final round on Saturday beginning at 7:30 a.m. CT on hole No. 10. The Gamecocks are paired with St. Mary’s and Sacramento State. Live scoring will be available at golfstatresults.com.

SOUTH CAROLINA RESULTS
T13. Wesley Bryan 69-75=144 (E)
T43. Caleb Sturgeon 80-72=152 (+8)
T50. Will Murphy 79-74=153 (+9)
T55. Sean Kelly 73-81=154 (+10)
T64. Dykes Harbin 73-83=156 (+12)

TEAM STANDINGS
1. Washington 286-281=567 (-9)
2. Florida State 279-292=571 (-5)
3. Texas 279-293=572 (-4)
4. Illinois 284-291=575 (-1)
5. Georgia Tech 290-286=576 (E)
6. Oklahoma 287-292=579 (+3)
7. St. Mary’s (CA) 286-302=588 (+12)
8. South Carolina 294-302=596 (+20)
9. Sacramento State 292-307=599 (+23)
10. Arizona 289-311=600 (+24)
11. San Diego 303-299=602 (+26)
12. IUPUI 297-307=604 (+28)
13. Middle Tennessee St. 304-316=620 (+44)
14. Loyola – Chicago 307-314=621 (+45)

Michael Roth suffered his first loss of the season Friday aftternoon against LSU (File Photo)

LSU right hander Kevin Gausman shut down the USC offense on just five hits and the Tigers supported him with a pair of home runs in a 12 hit attack in a 5-2 win in the series opener at Carolina Stadium.

The hard throwing Gausman bested Michael Roth who suffered his first loss of the season. Roth pitched 8 innings and allowed 10 hits tieing the high mark of his career. Gausman improved to 9-1 with his second consecutive complete game victory.  And he only needed 102 pitches. 

The Tigers led 2-1 after scoring single runs in the first and fourth innings.  In the 5th, Mason Katz cracked his 11th homer of the season, a solo shot to left to give the Tigers a 3-1 lead. 

It stayed that way until the ninth when the Tigers added some insurance runs  on a two run homer to left by Jordy Snikeris off Patrick Sullivan.

The Gamecocks did make a little noise in the bottom of the  9th. Joey Pankake, who had an RBI single in the 4th,  singled in his second run of the game.   Connor Bright followed with a single with Pankake advancing to second.  That brought the tieing run to the plate in Kyle Martin but he grounded out to short on the first pitch from Gausman to end the game. 

With the loss the Gamecocks fall to 17-10 in the SEC and trail LSU and Kentucky for the league title. They are each 18-10.

Game two of the series is at 7:00 tonight. Forrest Koumas will start for USC against freshman righthander Aaron Nola.

Box Score