South Carolina vs. Furman Game Recap: Gamecocks Fall to Paladins 6-4

Remember when South Carolina was scoring tons of runs and blowing teams out? That was fun. Tuesday’s game against Furman was less so.

The Gamecocks got on the board first, taking a 1-0 lead in the second inning after Madison Stokes and LT Tolbert singled and Jonah Bride walked with one out to load the bases. Hunter Taylor walked with two outs to force in the run, but USC left the bases loaded, which came back to haunt them.

The Paladins tied the game in the third inning and then took a 2-1 lead. The tying run came thanks to a Gamecocks error, which it made it even more unfortunate. Fortunately, though, South Carolina tied the game back up in the bottom of the inning when Stokes, in his first game back from injury, homered with two outs.

The 2-2 score held until the seventh inning, when Furman added several insurance runs thanks to a triple that brought two runners home and a sac fly that made it 5-2.

The Gamecocks scored their final two runs of the game in the bottom of the eighth inning, when Justin Row walked to start the inning and Carlos Cortes followed with a two-run homer to bring USC within one run, making the score 5-4.

The Paladins’ final run came in the ninth inning, after a questionable-at-best hit by pitch call with two outs.

After the domination the Gamecocks had showed at the plate, their last two loses, which have featured much less offensive production, are especially disappointing. Getting clutch hits was a problem last season that seems to have carried over to this year, and they’re going to need to get that fixed as soon as possible, and definitely before conference play.

Starter Logan Chapman had a decent outing, working four innings and allowing three hits and two runs. He didn’t walk any batters and struck out three. Carmen Mlodzinski, Eddy Demurias, and Hunter Lomas also pitched in this game.

South Carolina drops to 6-3, while Furman is now 4-4. The Gamecocks will be back in action on Friday, when they open up a series with Clemson. First pitch is set for 4 p.m. at Founder’s Park.