South Carolina baseball: Gamecocks can’t finish sweep behind quiet offense – SECcountry.com

COLUMBIA, S.C. — For the second weekend in a row, South Carolina baseball entered Sunday with a chance to sweep an opponent.

And for the second consecutive weekend, the Gamecocks fell without much of a whimper offensively in a series finale.

The Gamecocks (5-3) recorded eight hits — only three after the fourth inning — and Chad Holbrook was ejected in a 5-1 loss to Wright State on Sunday at Founders Park. Wright State starter Danny Sexton quieted the South Carolina bats over 7 strong innings. He allowed 1 run on 6 hits and 2 walks, striking out 4 Gamecocks.

“It is disappointing, but I thought we played well all weekend,” third baseman Jonah Bride said. “Today, they had their good guy throwing. We will be fine. I thought we showed some signs of really good ability this weekend. Our pitchers threw the ball well. They kept us in at all weekend. I don’t what else you can ask for from them.”

South Carolina’s Adam Hill was good for the second straight start, but made some costly mistakes to allow three runs to score. Hill walked Kevin Whatley — Wright State’s No. 9 hitter — in the third inning and leadoff hitter Matt Morrow homered to put the Gamecocks behind for the first time in the series.

Holbrook said Hill “kept us in the game,” but praised Sexton for keeping the Gamecocks off balance at the plate and the way the Raiders worked against Hill.

“Pitching wasn’t an issue,” Holbrook said. “Their pitching to our hitters was the difference in the game. Their hitters battled a little bit better than our hitters. They produced some more run-scoring opportunities than our guys. You look at the line, I think we had eight hits and they had eight hits. I think their at-bats were a tad bit more competitive than ours. That was a disappointing part of it for me.”

The game got away from the Gamecocks in the fifth, when the game got out of control in general. Hill gave up a pair of singles before getting a strikeout and apparently getting Whatley to ground out to short. Wright State coach Jake Mercer argued the call, leading to an umpire conference and the call being overturned as Madison Stokes’ throw pulled Riley Hogan off the base to load the bases.

Morrow hit a weak chopper toward first, which Hill fielded and reached out to tag him. First base umpire Joe Puma ruled Hill missed the tag, bringing another Wright State run home for a 3-1 lead and Holbrook screaming out of the dugout. The umpires again convened, with the call standing this time. A livid Holbrook jetted from the dugout again and was promptly ejected.

“I’m not going to talk about the ejection,” Holbrook said. “It was in the heat of the moment. Umpires do a really, really good job. It’s a hard game to umpire. It’s a hard game to play. It’s a hard game to coach. …

“I’m not going to speak about the conversations that I had with umpires. That’s not something I’m going to go into.”

RELATED: Chad Holbrook ejected in the fifth inning

Hill, who allowed 3 runs — 2 earned — on 2 walks and 3 hits in 5 innings, said he thought he applied the tag to Morrow.

“It was a bang-bang play,” said Hill, who struck out 6 batters. “I saw the ball, so I went to go get it. It was a tough bang-bang play. I decided to go for the guy running to first instead of the guy going home because I thought we had a better shot at that.”

Wright State added to its lead with back-to-back run-scoring singles with two outs in the eighth.

The Gamecocks took an early lead for the third straight game. Bride’s seeing-eye single in the second scored LT Tolbert, who roped a single down the line and advanced to second on an error on the right fielder.

South Carolina had two runners on in the first and third innings, but could not muster another real offensive threat until it put two runners on with two outs in the ninth.

“I’m happy with my team in regards to coming out of this series with two victories,” Holbrook said. “Something to build upon. We will look back in April and May and say that was a big series win because that’s how much I think of their team. We have to continue to get better. We have to improve in a number of areas, but the ceiling for our team is very high. We will get to work and we will keep working.”

Player of the game

Sexton

The Wright State lefty had the Gamecocks struggling from the third inning on, stopping USC from getting the sweep on the season’s second weekend.

Turning point

Morrow turned on the second pitch of his third-inning at-bat, sending it over the South Carolina bullpen for a 2-1 lead. The Gamecocks never recovered.

What’s next for South Carolina baseball

South Carolina hosts Appalachian State at 4 p.m. ET Tuesday at Founders Park before heading into a weekend series against Clemson.

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