Although Florida and South Carolina had 29 hits and 17 runs in an exciting game 1 with 14 entries, Saturday’s game 2 was much more defensive. Both teams’ lineups struggled to bring races at times, but the Gamecocks managed to get a great fifth offensive inning, and their starting pitcher Brannon Jordan threw seven fantastic frames while the USC won 4-1 to give the Gators their first loss in the series Station SEC.
With the victory, South Carolina guarantees its first victory in the series over Florida since 2011.
Both Jordan and UF, Jack Leftwich, managed to avoid any run in the first inning (although Leftwich allowed a hit), but Florida managed an attack in the second inning. Sterlin Thompson hit a simple hit from Jordan, and Kris Armstrong followed with a one-two that brought him home, giving the Gators a 1-0 lead.
The Gamecocks failed to match them in the second or third rounds, although they stranded five at the base between them, but finally found their pace in the fifth. After Leftwich allowed a one-two and a walk at the start of the shift, USC’s Wes Clarke fired at him to score three runs and take the lead.
After hitting two hitters with pitches, Leftwich’s day came to an end and Franco Aleman took Florida out of the inning without further damage. Leftwich suffered its first loss of the season, allowing for four strokes and three runs in just 4.2 entries of action. He also hit six hitters with pitches.
Meanwhile, Jordan only allowed one more streak for the rest of the afternoon, ending his run with five strokes and a run in seven full strokes. For his part, Aleman performed well, allowing no strikes and hitting three.
But Florida replaced him with Trey Van Der Weide at the top of the eighth, and he lasted just two strokes. A field error and a sacrifice put a South Carolina baserunner in the goal position, and Brandon Sproat gave up a single on his first hit to bring the runner to third. After an unsuccessful attempt by the next hitter, the Gamecocks managed a safe run that did not count against Sproat.
The Gators failed to do much at the top of the ninth, with South Carolina closer to Brent Kerry (who made his second defense of the season) hitting the first two hitters. With two exits, Thompson hit one to the deep center, but was caught near the alert lane.
Winning the series may be out of the question now, but UF will try to recover on Sunday and avoid sweeping in Game 3, which starts at noon EDT.