The Sarge

BOTTOM 9 - Matthews, Walker, Dantzler due up. Matthews pops out to left to start the inning on the first pitch of the at-bat. Walker flies out to deep left field. Two down. All up to Dantzler and his fish. Dantzler tries to check his swing, but can't, as he hits a dribbler to third base. Play is made by Conde for the final out of the inning. FINAL: Vanderbilt 3 - Carolina 2. L: Webb (5-1). South Carolina will play Auburn at 5:30 p.m. EDT on Wednesday.

TOP 9 - Webb gets out of the inning without giving up a run. Gamecocks down to their final three outs. Matthews, Walker, and Dantzler due up. Vandy leads 3-2.

BOTTOM 8 - Greiner up and hits one on the screws to left. Nice catch made by Lupo out there. He's been very good defensively. Payne pops out to the second baseman on the outfield grass. Vergason works a walk to bring up Tanner English, who has the only RBI hit of the night. He lines another single to left field to put two on. TJ Costen will pinch run. Marzilli strikes out for the third straight at-bat to end the inning. Vandy still leads 3-2.

TOP 8 - Vanderbilt begins the inning with a double down the left field line by nine-hole hitter Vince Conde. He's bunted up to third by Kemp. Gamecocks have to bring the infield in. WOW! With a 1-2 count, Yastrzemski lays down a suicide squeeze bunt. Runner broke on the delivery. Nicely executed. Webb was caught so much off guard his throw was wide to first pulling Walker off the bag. Vandy goes ahead 3-2. Yas is caught stealing and Gomez grounds out to ending the inning. Vandy leads 3-2

BOTTOM 7 - Marzilli Ks again. Ziomek still out there and gets him. Matthews walks on a borderline pitch, but he'll take his base and be content. Walker walks as well. They've pitched around him all day long. Dantzler hits a line drive, but it's right at Lupo in left for the second out of the inning. Pankake up with two ducks on the pond and two outs. He grounds out to second to end the inning. Score still tied 2-2.

TOP 7 - Sparkling defensive plays by Pankake and Dantzler start the inning. Two down. Webb gets Harvey looking at strike three. Stretch time in Hoov-ah. Score tied 2-2.

BOTTOM 6 - Payne pinch hitting for Martin as LHP Ziomek pinch hits for Martin. He goes down swinging on a fastball that was in the mitt before he swung. Vergason grounds out 2-3. English Ks on a pitch in the dirt. Score still tied at two apiece.

TOP 6 - Webb enters and promptly gives up a leadoff single to left by Yastrezmski, who is then bunted up to second by leading hitter Anthony Gomez. Webb makes the play and does so in fine fashion. He then gets Gregor swinging for the second out of the inning but falls behind 2-1 in the count to Nevin. He then singles through the right side. Not sure why Matthews didn't come up throwing there, but he didn't. Vandy tries to get Nevin into scoring position but Greiner guns him down by a mile trying to steal. Ziomek, the Friday night starter against USC during the season series, in to relieve. Score tied 2-2

BOTTOM 5 - Marzilli goes down on strikes for the 44th time this season to start the bottom of the fifth inning. Matthews with a big-league pop of his own to left. Ball just hung up in the pitch black sky forever. Two down. Walker takes his base on pitches for the second time this game. Gamecocks have been pretty good putting runners on base in this game with two outs. Dantzer with a line drive single to right and he gets to second base on something that, at least live, I didn't think was an error. I saw it as the RFer tried to make a sliding catch on a ball that he shouldn't have caught. The ball bounces off of him after the short hop and away. Ruled a single and E9. I'd called it a straight double. Maybe I missed something. I didn't see a replay. They took a while to score it, so I'm assuming they watched a replay. Greiner flies out to center to end the inning and the bases are left loaded. Gamecocks lead 2-1. Tyler Webb coming in to pitch. Gamecocks lead 2-1.

TOP 5 - Leadoff double for Harrell just inside the third base bag. Dantzler was there, but it got underneath him. I must have jinxed him. Sorry bout that. He gets to third on fly ball to center field. Conde flies out to deep center. These last two balls have been tattooed. Good thing for Monte is the park is big and the ball doesn't fly here to center. Two outs, but a run in. Kemp grounds out to second. Hey, at least he got bat on ball there. Baby steps. Gamecocks lead 2-1

BOTTOM 4 - Martin is still DH'ing and hits a bloop to shallow left. There sure have been some stellar defensive plays already in this tournament and Lupo makes his mark in that category. Makes a nice sliding catch for the first out. Harrell with a can of corn off the bat of Vergason. English hits a sharp liner that short-hops the third baseman. Conde with a nice little pick up and throw across the diamond. Hit that ball hard. Gamecocks lead 2-0.

TOP 4 - Monty's pitch count is already starting to sneak up a little bit nearing 60 pitches through 3 innings. Needs a quick one here, and starts off well getting a pop out to Pankake at short. Monty issues a four-pitch walk, but then gets a sterling defensive play from LB Dantzler. Fields a hot shot up the line and flips it across the diamond to first. Heck of a play there for him. Gotta be All-SEC defensive team. Gotta be. Pankake makes a smooth play at short. I think he can stay there. He's getting better, yall. Gamecocks up 2-0.

BOTTOM 3 - Gamecocks will send the middle of the order up. Matthews grounds out to shortstop to begin the inning. Walker takes his base on pitches and the Dantzler almost killed him with a line drive through the four hole. That sharp grounder almost took out Walker at the feet. Both runners move up on a ground ball out by Pankake to third base. Greiner, however, flies out to center to end the inning. Gamecocks lead 2-0.

TOP 3 - Montgomery is dealing so far tonight. Strikes out both Conde and Kemp to start the inning. That's two Ks for Kemp, who is a pretty darn good hitter, even though he hasn't put up the average most thought he would this season. He still has a .400 OBP though. Montgomery ahead of Yastrzemski 2-2 in the count and then strikes him out. Three up, three down, all on Ks. Gamecocks up 2-0.

BOTTOM 2 - LB Dantzler is first pitch swinging and pops out to shallow left. Pankake goes down on strikes. Greiner ropes a double just inside the line to left field. He coasts into second standing up, which brings up Holmes' spot. With an RBI situation and two outs, Martin hits a slow roller towards short. He hustles down the line hard and Gomez can't quite make the play. Ruled an infield hit putting runners at the corners for Vergason. He's hit by a pitch and all of a sudden the Gamecocks have the bases loaded for nine-hole hitter Tanner English. He drops a soft single over third base and into left field for a two-RBI single. Freshman coming through. Big time hit there. Marzilli absolutely smokes a line drive to center but Harrell catches up to it in the gap for the final out of the inning. Gamecocks lead 2-0

TOP 2 - Monty fields another bouncer that deflects off of him. He gathers and flips it to first for the out. Harrell pops out to English in left. That was a big league pop up. English could have eaten a chili dog while waiting on that one to come down. Pinch hitting in the DH spot is Chris Harvey, who is hitting .229 this year. Montgomery gets him swinging to end the inning. Great start for the freshman. No score.

BOTTOM 1 - Nothing going for the Gamecocks in the inning. Marzilli flies out to left. Matthews goes down swinging and Walker pops out as well. Walker tried to hit me a foul ball up here down the first base line. Didn't quite make it, but I appreciate the effort. No score.

TOP 1 - Jordan Montgomery on the hill for the Gamecocks looking to rebound off of a couple of rough starts. He had the LSU series off to get his mind right a bit. The lefty gets Kemp, last year's SEC Freshman of the Year, on strikes to begin the inning and then gets a sharp grounder back to him. Gomez knocks a sharp single to left and then Gregor walks. Navin hits a ground ball back up the middle, fielded cleanly by Pankake, who throws across the diamond for the final out of the inning to strand two. No score here in Hoover.

According to USC Sports Information, the game is on channel 506 in Time Warner Cable in South Carolina. DirecTV station 210. No word on anything about Dish or UVerse.

Most of you probably noticed that Colby Holmes is making his first career start as the designated hitter. I can tell you that it's unlikely he gets an at-bat. The coaching staff will pinch hit a player for him based on the situation in the game. If the situation calls for a bunt, they'll pinch hit a bunter. If the situation calls for a double, they'll pinch hit a guy with a better opportunity for a double. If he's leading off an inning, who knows?

Vanderbilt did it last night. That's the first time I've heard of that being done. The Commodores are doing that tonight as well. Without a clear DH on the South Carolina squad, they're basically just playing it situationally.

South Carolina

CF - Evan Marzilli
RF - Adam Matthews
1B - Christian Walker
3B - LB Dantzler
SS - Joey Pankake
C - Grayson Greiner
DH - Colby Holmes
2B - Chase Vergason
LF - Tanner English

LHP - Jordan Montgomery

Vanderbilt

2B - Tony Kemp
RF - Mike Yastrzemski
SS - Anthony Gomez
1b - Conrad Gregor
C - Spencer Navin
LF - Jack Lupo
CF - Connor Harrell
DH - Sam Selman
3B - Vince Conde

RHP TJ Pecoraro

Perfect night out here for baseball. Arkansas has been eliminated. LSU dropped its first game to Mississippi State, which is playhing great baseball right now. We're right in the middle of Auburn and Georgia with the Tigers lead 3-0 through four innings. We'll have some updates soon, including starting lineups, on the Gamecocks.

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