With the amount of mistakes South Carolina made on Friday, it shouldn’t have had a chance to win the game. But when you have Cole Messina on your team, you’re never truly out of it.
Down to their final out, the Gamecocks got a huge game-tying homer off the bat of Messina to send the game to extras. Then in the 10th, Will Tippett would win it with a walk-off sacrifice fly.
After being down most of the day, they picked up an 8-7 win over James Madison to advance to the winner’s bracket of the Raleigh Regional.
So how did they do it? Here are my takes from another wild win.
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Hard to believe they won with so many self-inflicted wounds
In truth, South Carolina did just about everything it could to lose this game. The Gamecocks made four defensive errors, a trend that doesn’t seem to be going away anytime soon. They grounded into four double plays, got picked off twice and yet somehow won the game.
Again, it’s a real testament to how good Messina has been. In no world is this team where it is right now without his presence. He’s obviously one of the best hitters in the country, but he’s also a solid catcher. He threw out three runners trying to steal in the game.
But getting back to the mistakes, Talmadge LeCroy continued to look disastrous over at third base. On his first chance to make a play, he made a throwing error and another one later in the game to add two to his stat line.
And with a left-handed reliever on the mound, the Gamecocks were picked off twice. It got so bad that they started to not take any lead off the base after the second pickoff. It looked like a little league team where the rule is your foot has to be on the bag. It was unbelievable. And why it took until the second pickoff is curious to say the least.
At the end of the day, these issues will somewhat get swept under the rug because they won. That’s all that really matters. But this can’t continue the rest of the weekend. The Gamecocks will face a solid NC State team on Saturday and cannot afford to make the same mistakes. Errors are in this team’s nature at this point but grounding into double plays and getting picked off can be avoided.
Junkyard Dawg rises to the occasion
The unsung hero of this game has to be Chris Veach. He came on in the sixth inning and pitched the rest of the way. He tossed 4.2 innings of two-run ball on 73 pitches to keep the team in the game. It was the most pitches he’s thrown in a game this year.
Without his efforts, South Carolina probably doesn’t win this one. He kept them in it the rest of the way and looked sharp as he has been.
Mark Kingston did say he could use Veach again later this weekend because there’s not as much wear and tear on the arm since he doesn’t throw super hard. But it’ll be interesting to see how they use him. I mean, it was just last week where Kingston brought him back out two days after throwing 67 pitches. And almost every change-up he threw hung in the zone. So we’ll have to see what changes this time around. If it were me, only use him if you need three outs. You can’t overextend him.
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Got lucky Friday, now Saturday becomes even more important
Let’s call it for what it is. If JMU decided to walk Messina in that spot, a lot of people wouldn’t blame them. Parker Noland, who was 0-for-4 on the day, was due up next. And after the homer, he grounded out.
So in a way, the Gamecocks definitely lucked out. They won a game they had no business winning. And now, they’ll have another big test against the Wolfpack on Saturday.
The difference between winning and losing is astronomical. If South Carolina wins, it only needs one more win to advance to Super Regionals. Lose and it will have to win three more games in two days to advance.
Garrett Gainey will get the ball for the Gamecocks, and I would expect the tank to be emptied on him as long as he’s throwing well. This is the must-win game of the year. He needs to go deep into this game to give South Carolina a chance.
And on the topic of Noland, I cannot see him hitting behind Messina again this season. He provided zero protection anytime Messina did anything on Friday. If it were up to me, I’d like to see Dalton Reeves or Kennedy Jones hit fifth and move Noland down in the lineup. Or here’s a thought: put Tyler Causey in at second base since that’s a position he can play. I doubt that will happen but his bat is just as good as Noland’s.
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