NASHVILLE, Tenn. – No. 17 South Carolina rallied late to take the opener 4-3 in 10 innings over No. 18 Vanderbilt Thursday night at Hawkins Field.
The Commodores (39-15, 16-12) were one strike away from winning their fourth straight but South Carolina’s (41-13, 17-11) Max Schrock changed that with a game-tying single through the right side of the Vandy infield off Brian Miller to knot the game 3-3 in the ninth. The Dores were quickly in business in the bottom of the ninth when John Norwood led off with an infield single and Rhett Wiseman was intentionally walked after a passed ball put Norwood on second. Jason Delay’s sacrifice attempt, however, failed with Norwood being thrown out at third base for the first out of the inning. Ro Coleman appeared to be the hero with a single up the middle but Gamecocks’ center fielder Tanner English made a perfect throw to the plate to nail Wiseman trying to score from second.
In the 10th inning, Joey Pankake lined a solo shot into the first row of the left-center field bleachers with one out to put South Carolina in front to stay. In the home half of the 10th, Xavier Turner led off with a walk and moved to second on Bryan Reynolds second sacrifice of the night but Turner was left at second for the third time in the game to end it.
Vanderbilt rallied to take the lead in the sixth inning, scoring two runs off Gamecocks starter Jordan Montgomery. Zander Wiel tied the game with a RBI-single and scored after stealing third on Vince Conde’s sacrifice fly to center field. The Commodores took an early lead on Conde’s RBI-single in the fourth.
The Dores matched a season-high with five stolen bases in the game with Turner and Wiel swiping two each. Eight of the nine Commodores in the lineup had at least one hit with Turner, Wiel and Ro Coleman registering two-hit nights. The two-hit game was the third straight for Coleman, who is 6-for-10 in his last three games. Pankake led the way for the Gamecocks with two hits and two RBI.
Miller took the loss for the Commodores allowing one run on two hits over 1.2 innings. The loss overshadowed a stellar outing from starter Tyler Beede, who tossed a career-best 8.1 innings. The right-hander allowed three runs on six hits with four walks and six strikeouts. The right-hander battled through jams much of the night, stranding six runners on base through the first four frames. South Carolina finally reached him for two runs in the fifth after Beede hit the leadoff batter and allowed a single to Schrock. Pankake singled for the first run and DC Arendas put the Gamecocks in front with a groundout to second base. Beede, however, settled in after that retiring 10 straight batters until a leadoff walk opened the ninth. After a sacrifice bunt put the tying run on second Miller was summoned from the pen and quickly recorded the second out of the inning before allowing the game-tying single to Schrock.
Joel Seddon picked up the win with two scoreless innings out of the South Carolina bullpen. Montgomery allowed three runs on eight hits across seven innings in a no decision.
The Commodores and Gamecocks square off tomorrow night at 6:30 p.m. with Carson Fulmer getting the ball for the home team against South Carolina lefty Jack Wynkoop.
