ATHENS — Eighth-ranked South Carolina hit four home runs in a 13-7 win over No. 23 Georgia Saturday at Foley Field.
Senior right-hander Brannon Jordan (3-2) held the Bulldogs to one run on one hit with 11 strikeouts before leaving with the bases loaded in the seventh. USC had an 8-2 lead and Georgia would cut it to 8-6 in that frame. With the win, the Gamecocks improved to 18-7 overall, 5-3 in the SEC and snapped Georgia’s seven-game winning streak in the series.
In the seventh, Georgia (18-8, 3-5 SEC) rallied to make it a two-run contest off Brett Kerry before USC came back with three runs in the eighth and two in the ninth for the final. In the seventh, Georgia scored five runs on two hits, a bases-loaded walk and an error in the rally and could’ve had even more as it left the bases loaded. Junior Garrett Blaylock helped key the outburst with a pinch-hit, two-run single. Connor Tate’s fifth home run of the year accounted for Georgia’s final run in the eighth.
Freshman Park Harber gave Georgia a 1-0 lead with a two-out, solo home run in the second inning. It was his third of the year. South Carolina answered in the third with a two-run home run from senior George Callil. In the fourth, USC senior right fielder Andrew Eyster made it 4-1 with a two-run home run. A solo home run by USC left fielder Josiah Sightler to start the sixth extended the Gamecocks lead to 5-1. Later in the frame, a two-out RBI-single by Brennan Milone and a throwing error by Shane Marshall pushed the lead to 7-1.
Ryan Webb started for the Bulldogs and went six innings, allowing seven runs on six hits with eight strikeouts. Coming in Saturday, he had allowed just two home runs on the year before the Gamecocks collected three off him as he dropped to 2-1. Freshmen Hank Bearden, Jaden Woods, Liam Sullivan and Charlie Goldstein pitched the final three innings for the Bulldogs while Kerry finished game for USC.
The rubber game of the series will be Sunday and first pitch slated for 1:02 p.m. on SEC Network+ and can be heard on the Georgia Bulldog Sports Network.
Georgia head baseball coach Scott Stricklin
On the team’s early offensive struggles
“Well, it was a lot of Brannon Jordan, he was very, very good. We knew it was going to be a challenge preparing for today and watching him on video. It is a lot of elevated fast balls that have this spin on it, it’s got the analytics, the ball is jumping. He’s got a big-time breaking ball which is hard to see. But we did not compete enough. He was really good, and a lot of the credit goes to him, but our hitters need to compete better than that. If a guy beats you, a guy beats you, but you have to fight him a little more than we did. Those first six innings we were not competitive enough. We started competing in the seventh inning and made it a game, and it got really interesting. But we have to bring that fight and those competitive at bats for 27 outs. “
Garrett Blaylock, Jr., 3B
On sparking the rally in the seventh inning…
“It showed a little bit of toughness today in terms of being down 8-1 and not completely crumbling. It just obviously wasn’t enough today.”
Ryan Webb, Sr., LHP
On what makes South Carolina a difficult team to pitch against…
“They’re all big swingers and are all just really big, strong guys. You make one mistake, and they can hurt you really bad. I felt like I had pretty good stuff today, but when you make mistakes against a team like that, they capitalize on those, and I felt like they did that. It was just one of those days where the ball was flying and every time they barreled up a ball it went over the fence or found a gap.”
