The Sarge

BOTTOM 11 - Matt Price in the game and gives up a first pitch single to right by Brian Johnson. Paul Wilson comes in to pinch run. He's bunted up to second by Josh Adams. Tyler Thompson and Daniel Pigott due up. After a nine-pitch AB, Price gets Thompson swinging. Pigott then gets a ground ball to Mooney, who fields and fires for the final out of the game. Absolutely incredible. No words for this. No words. Gamecocks win 2-1.

TOP 11 - Jackie Bradley Jr. to lead off the inning against Maronde. He hits a line drive but it's caught by Preston Tucker at first base. Great diving play to snare the liner and save a leadoff single. Christian Walker grounds a sharp single back through the box. One on, one down for Adam Matthews, who entered as a pinch runner earlier. RHP Greg Larson coming in. First pitch, Christian Walker takes off for second. No one is expecting it and no one covers the bag. The throw sails high and wide and into center. Walker comes up and books it towards third. The throw from center short hops Dent at third. It bounces over him and into the camera wells. Walker awarded home and the Gamecocks are up 2-1. I've never seen anything like this in my life. Absolutely incredible. Matthews ends up walking. Morales pops out to third. Jake Williams coming up with a runner on third. He strikes out but the Gamecocks lead 2-1 with Matt Price coming in.

BOTTOM 10 - Leadoff single by nine-hole hitter Cody Dent. Bunted up to second by Fontana. Bryson Smith, who has been on base three times, lines out to left. Two down for Preston Tucker. He's walked intentionally. Mike Zunino hits a first pitch single through the left side. Jake Williams comes up and throws the absolute strike of his life. He guns Cody Dent at the plate. Absolutely incredible. I just, I just. I don't know. Incredible. I never would have thought that would happen. JBJ, Walker, Thomas due up.

TOP 10 - Jake Williams with a leadoff single. Mooney can't get the bunt down in his first two chances. He does have a nine-pitch at-bat but flies out to shallow left for out number one. Robert Beary shoots a first-pitch single to right and there are runners on first and second with one down. Marzilli goes down looking. Two down. Wingo grounds back up the middle. Adams has him played perfectly and we're going to the 10th. Score tied 1-1.

BOTTOM 9 - John Taylor in to pitch for the Gamecocks and will face three All-SEC players. SEC POTY Mike Zunino up first, first-team All-SEC DH Brian Johnson, then second-team All-SEC 2B Josh Adams. He falls behind Zunino 3-1 but gets back full with three foul balls. Taylor walks Zunino on nine pitches. Brian Johnson looks to bunt but fouls off two pitches. Rips a single to right and there are runners at the corners with no one out. Intentional walk to 2B Josh Adams to load the bases. Thompson hits a gorund ball back up the middle. Wingo makes a diving play and throws home. It one hops Beary, who picks it up like a first baseman for teh first out. Far from out of trouble though. Pigott then hits a sharp grounder right at Wingo, who fields and throws a strike to Beary. Then Beary relays to first for the final out of the inning. Abso-frickin-lutely incredible. Score tied 1-1.

TOP 9 - Christian Walker strikes out on five pitches and on strike three, the bat slips out of his hands and flies to the backstop. Good thing the catcher and umpire were crouched down. Dangerous. Brady Thomas shoots a two-strike single to left field. Pinch runner Adam Matthews coming in. Closer Austin Maddox comes in and gets a second pitch ground ball to short off the bat of Adrian Morales. Easy double play ball. Going to the ninth, it's 1-1. John Taylor coming in to pitch.

BOTTOM 8 - Tyler Webb is dealing right now. For my faithful Spartanburg followers, you heard me on The Clary Show this morning to look for Webb to be extended tonight. It's not that I didn't like putting Webb in, it's I didn't like taking Koumas out, if that makes sense. Webb retires the first two hitters of the inning on a fly ball to center and a foul out to left. Nice running play, again, by Williams by the tarp. After a two-out walk, which was borderline, Webb gets Preston Tucker to ground into a 6-4 force out to end the inning. Still tied 1-1.

TOP 8 - Peter Mooney with a leadoff walk and moves to second on a perfect bunt by Beary. Marzilli up now with a runner in scoring position. He flies out to RCF and Mooney tags and takes third base. Tying run 90 feet away for Scott Wingo, who is due. He's 0-for-3 with 2Ks. O'Sullivan visits. Wingo misses on a 2-1 curve ball. Randall comes back with the same pitch and the senior grounds it back up the middle. It's not hit hard but it's in the right spot - just under Randall's glove and past a diving Adams. Gamecocks tie it up! Reliever Steven Rodriguez comes in and gets JBJ swinging to end the inning but the game takes on a new complexion. Score tied 1-1.

BOTTOM 7 - Webb faces 5-6-7 this inning. Brian Johnson grounds to short. Nice play by Mooney for the first out. Adams flies to deep right center but it's caught on the track by JBJ for the second out of the inning. Ater a two-out walk, Pigott flies out to shallow left center. JBJ makes the play. Gators lead 1-0.

TOP 7 - Brady Thomas grounds back to the pitcher, Morales pops in foul territory to first. Two quick outs. Three pitches for two outs. Jake Williams lines to left on his third pitch. That was a six pitch inning. Gators lead 1-0.

BOTTOM 6 - Koumas catches nine-hole hitter Cody Dent looking for the first out of the inning. Leadoff hitter Nolan Fontana flies to Jake Williams in left about 10 feet from the line. Two down. Koumas looks really good out there. He was effectively wild early but seems to be hitting his spots a little better as the game has progressed. Bryson Smith lines a single to center and in a move I don't understand and disagree with, Tyler Webb comes in. He gives up a ground ball back up the middle. Wingo makes a diving play and knocks it down keeping it on the infield. Runners on first and second with two down. Zunino flies out to center. Even though they get out of it, still don't think Koumas should have come out there. Gators lead 1-0.

TOP 6 - Scott Wingo strikes out swinging. Most guys aren't really close tonight so far against Randall. JBJ grounds softly to second. Walker grounds to deep short. Fontana makes the play. It's getting late early here, folks. Gators lead 1-0.

BOTTOM 5 - Johnson grounds a single back up the middle and is bunted up to second by Adams. Runner on second, one down. Thompson appears, at least to me, to swing and miss at a 1-2 pitch. He claims he foul-tipped it and all four umpires meet. They change the call from a strikeout to a foul ball. Very next pitch, Thompson flies out to center. Pigott up with a runner on second and two down. Pigott pops out to Mooney in foul territory behind the third base bag. Gators lead 1-0.

TOP 5 - Peter Mooney goes down swinging for the first out of the inning. Robert Beary fouls out to first and Marzilli goes down swinging. Hudson Randall looking pretty darn good so far. Gators lead 1-0.

BOTTOM 4 - This will be a big inning for Koumas. He's facing 2-3-4 in the batting order. Koumas looking very good through the first two hitters. Gets Smith on a check swing, Tucker pops out to Marzilli along the line in shallow right. Zunino pops to Wingo for the final out of the inning. Gators lead 1-0.

TOP 4 - Hudson Randall look like Greg Maddux yet? Ground out to short by Walker, tapper back to him by Thomas. Two down. Adrian Morales singles up the middle. He's been on base both times up. Williams lines out to center to end the inning. Gators lead 1-0.

BOTTOM 3 - Leadoff walk to Tyler Thompson. Michael Roth said the other day leadoff walks usually come around to score. We'll see if Koumas can somehow get out of this. Pigott is swinging and hits a slow roller towards second. Koumas cuts it off but Beary yells to go to first. He does. Runner on second, one down. Thompson gets to third on what is ruled a wild pitch but sure looked like a passed ball to me. Dent lifts a fly ball to left field and that was deep enough to score Thompson. Fontana lines out to right to end the inning. That's not the way you want to give up runs. It should be unearned, in my opinion. Certainly looked to me like a passed ball but that is from a mile above the field, too. Gators lead 1-0.

TOP 3 - Evan Marzilli up and lines out to left field. Hit it well but Thompson didn't have to move an inch for it. One down. Wingo ground the first pitch he sees to Tucker at first. He flips to Randall and gets him by a step. JBJ with a swinging bunt up the third base line. Randall scrambles over there, fields, and gets JBJ by a step. No score.

BOTTOM 2 - Forrest Koumas with a great start to the inning getting Zunino swinging on a slider and Johnson to fly out lazily to left. Josh Adams Ks looking on an inside slider that missed it's spot by two feet but may have caught the inside black. No score.

TOP 2 - Adrian Morales hits a two-strike pitch to Cody Dent at third. He's only got 20 starts this year but he's been really good out here in Omaha. He can't handle it, despite the fact it took a hop right to his belt. Handcuffed. Drops, late throw. Morales safe at first. Instead of a bunt, the Gamecocks try some hit and run action. Williams gets under it a little bit and pops out to right center. Pigott makes it interesting but makes the catch for the first out. Mooney pops up to center for out number two. Beary digs in looking for a gap to try to get the run home. Beary goes down looking on three pitches. No score.

BOTTOM 1 - JBJ catches a fly ball to center for the first out. Bryson Smith pops the first pitch into foul territory. Walker seems to have this one tracked by Wingo tries to call him off late and the ball falls between the two. Scored as an E4, which I guess it certainly could have been given that it tipped off of Wingo's glove. Very next pitch is a ground ball through the six hole. Yeck. One of my keys was playing solid defense. Tucker hits a deep fly ball to center but it's caught by Bradley Jr. for the second out. With Zunino up, Smith tries to steal second. He's gunned down by Beary. Gamecocks work around the error. No score.

TOP 1 - Scott Wingo has only led off once this season - against Furman in which he was 0-for-4 with two strikeouts. Now, he's 0-for-5 with three strikeouts. Hudson Randall gets him swinging to start the game. JBJ up now but he's down in the count 0-2. After a ball, JBJ goes down swinging. Walker comes up and, well, goes the opposite way lining a double just inside the first base line. How incredible is this? I mean, he's got a broken bone in his power hand. Incredible. Brady Thomas up now and swings at the first pitch. Grounds it sharply but right back at Randall, who gloves it cleanly and runs halfway to first before scissoring it over there and getting Thomas for the final out of the inning. No score.

South Carolina
2B Scott Wingo
CF Jackie Bradley Jr.
1B Christian Walker
DH Brady Thomas
3B Adrian Morales
LF Jake Williams
SS Peter Mooney
RF Evan Marzilli
C Robert Beary
RHP Forrest Koumas

Florida
SS Nolan Fontana
CF Bryson Smith
1B Preston Tucker
C Mike Zunino
DH Brian Johnson
2B Josh Adams
LF Tyler Thompson
RF Daniel Pigott
3B Cody Dent
RHP Hudson Randall

7:20 p.m. - Christian Walker is on the field taking some swings in the cage. He's taken four rounds now. His very first swing carried just over the left field wall and into the bullpen. He's hit some hard line drives and most of his swings look OK. One swing, looked like he got jammed a little bit and he left the cage flexing his hand and didn't look like he felt comfortable. He's not in the original lineup. In his fourth round, he hit two more out, including one that went about 400 feet.

REMINDER: Lineups are not official until Ray Tanner presents it to the umpire. JBJ started out higher in the lineup in game one before being bumped down to ninth in the order.

6:45 p.m. - The Gamecocks have just taken the field for batting practice. Steven Neff and Michael Roth are taking ground balls at first base right now. Robert Beary is up the right field line shagging baseballs. That means to me that Beary will catch. Not sure who will play first. Also tells me that Thomas is not early healthy enough to catch. I thought he would be, Tanner said he's been feeling better, apparently he isn't.

At this point, there really just aren't very many good options. Just have to make do.

There's no official update from here right now about Christian Walker but I was down there (video coming shortly) watching the team as they got off the bus. Walker didn't bring his bat bag to the park so I'm severely doubting he's playing tonight

I'm less and less confident that Beary will play first tonight. I think it's about 50/50. Brady Thomas told my buddy Ron Morris at The State newspaper that he hasn't done any catching-related activities since Beary became the every day catcher.

I don't know what the solution is. The only thing I know is there is no good solution.