COLUMBIA, S.C. — Georgia saw its five-game winning streak snap Saturday as No. 30 South Carolina avoided an SEC sweep by posting a 10-0 victory at Founder’s Park.
The Gamecocks (32-23, 13-17 SEC) scored three runs on three hits in the third to chase freshman right-hander Tony Locey. LT Tolbert made it 1-0 on a sacrifice fly and with two outs, Riley Hogan added an RBI-double and John Jones followed with a run-scoring single to cap the outburst. Georgia (25-31, 11-19 SEC) had a scoring chance in the fourth, loading the bases with two outs when USC made a pitching change. Senior Colie Bowers came in and retired Adam Sasser on a flyout.
Locey went 2.2 innings and surrendered three runs on four hits as his record dropped to 2-4. Georgia pitchers Blakely Brown, Tim Elliott, Justin Glover, Shaefer Shepard, Ryan Avidano and Christian Ryder saw action in relief of Locey. Bowers pitched 2.2 innings for the win to improve to 5-1.
The Gamecocks added unearned runs in the fourth and fifth as Georgia made three errors and had three wild pitches in that span to make it 5-0. USC would add five more runs over the next three innings for the final margin.
Georgia will enter the SEC Tournament in Hoover, Ala., as the 12th seed and face the fifth seed Mississippi State on Tuesday at 9 p.m. ET. It is single elimination on Tuesday, and the winner will advance to the double-elimination part of the event when the field is reduced to eight teams. Last weekend, Georgia beat then sixth-ranked Miss. State two out of three in Athens. The complete SEC Tournament draw will be released late Saturday at the conclusion of league play.
Dawg Tracks
*Junior Keegan McGovern extended his hitting streak to five games with a base hit in the sixth.
*Georgia had its season-high five-game winning streak end Saturday.
*Despite Saturday’s result, Georgia posted its fourth straight series win over South Carolina under Ike Cousins head baseball coach Scott Stricklin. In the last four years, Georgia is 8-4 against the nationally ranked Gamecocks, claiming series when they were ranked No. 2, No. 7 (twice) and No. 30.
Coach’s Corner: Ike Cousins Head Baseball Coach Scott Stricklin
“I told the team it was a bad day but a great weekend coming here and winning our third straight series over a ranked team. South Carolina was a preseason top 10 team and today they outplayed and outpitched us. We got behind early and made too many mistakes. Still, we came here and put ourselves in a position to make the SEC Tournament, and I told them to stay positive heading into Tuesday. I hate it the way it ended here today, but overall we’re looking forward to playing in the SEC Tournament, and it’s great we have a chance to keep playing.”
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