It was still early in the game. But the spot felt as big as it could get, especially with the way Texas A&M had been hitting the ball.
After a wild pitch, the Aggies had runners on second and third with two outs, trailing by two. This could’ve been where they took back control, like they had all weekend. But instead, Matthew Becker threw a 2-2 pitch on the outside corner for strike three to end the threat.
Becker might’ve not been able to give South Carolina a ton of length on Sunday. But his outing was just what the No. 22 Gamecocks (22-10, 6-6 SEC) needed to kickstart a 6-5 win over No. 3 Texas A&M. With the win, they’ll avoid the series sweep and move back to .500 in SEC play.
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After pitching mainly out of the bullpen this year, head coach Mark Kingston elected to give Becker the Sunday start. And it was a move that made sense with how lefty-heavy the Aggies lineup could be.
With this in mind, the left-hander pitched four innings of one-run ball, giving up five hits. His command was sharp throughout the afternoon as he racked up eight strikeouts and didn’t walk a batter.
As the Aggies couldn’t plate many early runs, it gave the Gamecocks a chance to strike first, and they did. With a runner on second and one out in the first, Ethan Petry cranked a two-run shot over the right field wall to quickly make it 2-0.
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In the third, after falling behind in the count 0-2, Kennedy Jones hit a rocket deep into left for a solo homer. His sixth blast of the year made it 3-0. After A&M got a run back, South Carolina added two more runs with the bases loaded in the fourth to go up by four runs.
After Becker’s outing came to an end, Chris Veach, who pitched on Saturday, started the fifth. Veach managed to retire the side in order. But in the sixth, the right-hander served up a two-out, two-run homer to Hayden Schott to cut the lead in half.
South Carolina added another run in the seventh to make it a three-run lead. But the Aggies continued to battle back, plating two more runs in the eighth off Garrett Gainey.
In the ninth, Gainey bounced back by retiring the side in order to seal the deal.
Up next: South Carolina will head to the Queen City for a date with North Carolina on Tuesday. First pitch is at 7 p.m. on ACC Network Extra.
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