The Sarge

TOP 9 - Matt Price back to the mound looking for save No. 9 of the season. He goes ahead in the count 1-2 and then strikes out Edward on a breaking ball. Slaid hits a line drive to Vergason's left. He makes a great diving play for the second out of the inning. Price ahead 0-2 now on JaCoby Homes and freezes him with a curve ball strike to end the game. Man, oh man. That was one of the best Matt Price performances I've seen this year, period. FINAL: #Gamecocks 5 - LSU 4 W: Webb (5-0) S: Price (9). USC (39-14, 18-10) will look for the series win at 1 on ESPNU

BOTTOM 8 - Greiner goes down swinging on an offspeed pitch from new reliever LHP Chris Cotton. Pankake goes down looking. Bright flies out to left. Gamecocks lead 5-4.

TOP 8 - Hanover begins the inning with a double. Man, oh man. He moves to second on a single to center. It was going to be hard for Marzilli to get in there and catch that. Hanover had to hold and it puts runners at the corners with no one out. This is where Matt Price has a tendency to shine though. He can really get out of some jams. He Ks Fields and then Katz for the first two outs of the inning. He throws some good fastballs. Rhymes now up though for LSU. He just does what he does dropping a soft single to shallow center to score one. Moore up, and he goes down on strikes. Man, the tension is high here. Fans still booing umpires. Gamecocks lead 5-4

BOTTOM 7 - RHP Joey Bourgeois now on to pitch for LSU. Chase Vergason up and sends a deep fly ball to right center. Edward gets there just in time. English goes down on strikes but Marzilli walks to keep the inning alive. Marzilli swipes second. Moore would have had him out but the second baseman dropped the ball. Moore much, much more likely to throw a runner out than Snikeris. Adam Matthews turns on a pitch and sends a deep fly ball to left field. The ball hit the rail and should have been a home run. Umpires didn't see it and rule it a double. I certainly think they missed that call. They're going to put Christian Walker on base intentionally. Dantzler goes down swinging to end the inning. Gamecocks lead 5-3

TOP 7 - Evan Beal entering the game now for Carolina. Facing Raph Rhymes, who is down to .476 now after getting out last at-bat. Count goes full from Beal, who walks him on a fastball low and outside. Four straight balls to Tyler Moore. USC has seen enough and they'll call in Matt Price. Edward pops up his bunt behind the plate and Greiner catches it. I'm not breaking any news or giving any expert analysis by saying that's huge. Pinch hitter Jackson Slaid coming up. This dude is little but he's jacked. He's a mini Dan Uggla. He's also behind in the count 1-2. He looks at a slider strike. Matty P money so far. And make that three outs - gets JaCoby Jones swinging to end the inning. Gamecocks lead 4-3. Whew.

BOTTOM 6 - English bounces a single through the left side for South Carolina's third hit of the game. Marzilli drops a spinning single over Hanover at third to put two on with no one out for Matthews, who takes the first pitch and fouls off a bunt. Matthews behind on a 91 mph fastball and strikes out. And folks, we now have a tie ball game. Christian Walker jumps all over a first pitch fastball and sends it over the concourse and under the scoreboard to tie this ball game up at three apiece. Sometimes being aggressive pays off, huh? Dantzler pops up to Nola at short for the second out. Grayson Greiner with a line drive single to right field. This crowd is starting to feel it a little bit now. Joey Pankake then lines a triple to the gap in right center scoring Greiner standing up. This crowd is really feeling it right now. Absolutely feeling it. Connor Bright now up for the Gamecocks. No one in the LSU bullpen. Like, literally, no one. Bright gets some solid contact, but lines out to right to end the inning. Gamecocks lead 4-3

TOP 6 - Tyler Webb back out there and gives up a line drive single to left center to begin the inning. Nola goes down swinging. He's had a rough day at the plate. Two on after Webb walks Fields, which prompts a visit from Jerry Meyers. Sinking line drive to left off the bat of Katz. English makes the catch on his shoetops and doubles off Hanover at second base. Nice little play there by the freshman. LSU leads 3-0

BOTTOM 5 - Lazy fly balls to center and right by Pankake and Bright to lead off the inning. Two down. I'm not saying this team can't come back, but through the first five innings, they look out of it. Not good at-bats off of Nola. I will argue against you if you try and tell me it was the same way in the first game. This game is a different story. Vergy hits a soft liner to first for the final out of the inning. LSU leads 3-0.

TOP 5 - Katz singles sharply to left center to bring up Rhymes, who is hitting .479 now. With a 1-1 count, Greiner gives up a passed ball. That's the first for the Gamecocks this season. Absolutely incredible the performance that Greiner and Rosenberg have had this year blocking pitches and such. It was bound to happen sooner or later. USC was the only team in the SEC that had not allowed a passed ball. Rhymes hits a line drive to right, which is deep enough for Katz to tag and get to third. Tyler Webb comes on to pitch now for Forrest Koumas and Moore drops a single to left field. English throws home but a bit wide. Moore takes second on the throw home. Edward with a cue-shot single to right field. Moore had to hold at second to be sure that the ball would fall behind Walker. Runners at the corners with one down for Casey Yocom, who is hitting for DH Dozier. He pops the first pitch to shallow right. Matthews was there, but Vergason made the catch. Good thing the runner was half way off of third because it would have been flat impossible for Vergy to throw him out if he was trying to tag. Corners still with two down. Jones hits a line drive, but English catches it a step shy of the track in left. Lot of good passes at the plate for LSU off of Webb. LSU leads 3-0

BOTTOM 4 - Matthews pushes a bunt up the first base line and beats out the throw from Nola. Walker up and falls behind in the count 1-2. These LSU pitchers do a good job of working ahead in the count -- which is part of the reason why South Carolina swings early in the count. They know they're going to get strikes. If they watch the strikes go by, they're going to be swinging at breaking pitches. Much easier to try to hit a fastball early in the count than breaking balls later. Some understand that, many don't. It is what it is. Walker goes down looking at a fastball on the outside corner. He thought it was outside. It was close. Dantzler up. He pops up to Nola in foul territory. Ole LB isn't having great luck today at the plate. He has a tendency to come up with big hits though. Maybe later. Matthews swipes second but stays standing there as the ball trickles into center. Greiner goes down on strikes to end the inning. LSU leads 2-0.

TOP 4 - Koumas with his first easy inning. He gets Hanover to strike out swinging. Nola pops out to Matthews in the corner just in foul territory. Good job to get over there and find the wall and make the catch. Fields hits a flare to shallow left. English catches it in foul territory to end the inning. LSU leads 2-0.

BOTTOM 3 - Vergason grounds out to second base. English strikes out. Two quick outs for Nola, who is just overpowering right now. Marzilli gets some good contact on a fastball but flies out to center to end the inning. LSU leads 2-0.

TOP 3 - Two-hopper off the bat of Katz to Pankake. Fields and fires. One down. Rhymes almost decapitates Koumas with a line drive single back up the middle. It's a treat watching this kid swing the bat. Moore hits a shot right at Walker. Hard to field cleanly, but could have knocked it down and kept it in front. Instead, it goes through him into right field. E3. That puts runners at the corners with one down. LSU squeezes on the first pitch of the AB. A little close to the mound, but Rhymes gets a good jump off third and slides feet first into home. Koumas couldn't get a good flip off anyway. Runners on first and second, Koumas strikes out Dozar on a pretty filthy curve. Goes ahead of Jones 0-2. He flies out to center to end the inning. LSU leads 2-0

BOTTOM 2 - The string of three freshmen due up now for the Gamecocks. Greiner pops out to right. Pankake falls behind in the count 1-2 swinging through a curve ball and then fans at a 92 mph fastball. Great pitch sequencing there for Nola. Had Pankake all flustered during that AB. Bright down in the count 0-2. Bright puts up a quality AB fouling off a couple of pitches and just gets under a fastball driving it to deep left center. Fields catches up with it just shy of the track for the final out of the inning. LSU leads 1-0.

TOP 2 - Jones drops his third hit in five at-bats today into left field for a lead off single. Hanover bunts him up to second. Koumas fields the bunt up the first base line and flips it to Walker. Lead off hitter Nola up and ahead in the count 2-1. He works the count back to full. Nola then hits a sharp grounder back up the middle. Koumas gloves it and looks the runner back to second base before throwing Nola out at first. Koumas is throwing a lot of pitches. He's been all over the place but credit LSU for giving competitive at-bats with two strikes. Fields bounces to short. Pankake fields and throws to first for the out. LSU leads 1-0.

BOTTOM 1 - Freshman Aaron Nola to the mound for LSU. He's the younger brother of senior shortstop Austin Nola. Evan Marzilli goes down swinging on a 94 mph fastball. This pup can run it up there on the gun, too, like Gausman. Matthews inside outs a single to right center and then swipes second base. Not a bad catch and throw by Moore, who is much more of a threat to throw out a base runner than Snikers, or whoever. Walker up and gives one a ride to deep left center. He got it just a bit off the hands though and it falls just short of the all and into the glove of Rhymes for out number two. Dantzler goes down looking at strike three to end the inning. LSU leads 1-0.

TOP 1 - Forrest Koumas out there for his second start in six weeks. He's got a little bit more bounce than usual out there. He's got a lot of energy. Never seen him quite like this. He falls behind the first hitter 2-0 but comes right back with a couple of fastballs for strikes and a slider low for strike three. Then pumps a 92mph fastball by Fields for the second out. Four pitches, four balls to Katz, though. None of them were really close. Rhymes walks on six pitches. The payoff must have missed just low. After a first pitch ball to Moore, Ray Tanner comes sprinting out of the dugout and calls everyone together on the mound. Bouncer back up the middle. No reason Pankake should have not at least gotten there to get a glove on it. He broke the wrong way. Dugout looks at him wondering what's wrong. Pankake points at his eyes then at the umpire. Maybe the ump kept him from seeing it? I don't know. Ball goes to center for an RBI single. Edward hits a bouncer to deep short. Pankake cuts it off but doesn't have a play at any base. Dozar, this game's DH, gives one a ride to deep right. Adam Matthews makes a beautiful leaping catch at the wall in right center. Great play there by the senior, who was just presented with a framed jersey a few minutes ago. LSU leads 1-0

The team just got done having senior day honoring Logan Munson, Adam Matthews, and Michael Roth. I must have missed a memo somewhere as I thought it was going to be tomorrow they did that. Sorry I didn't give yall a heads up that was happening. This place is packed out.

South Carolina

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

RHP Forrest Koumas

Louisiana State

SS - Austin Nola
CF - Arby Fields
1B - Mason Katz
LF - Raph Rhymes
C - Tyler Moore
RF - Alex Edward
DH - Grant Dozar
2B - JaCoby Jones
3B - Tyler Hanover

RHP Aaron Nola

The last game thread was obviously broken, so we'll start a new one. First it rains, then USC loses. Time to start a new thread. Stay tuned for updates from here.

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