HOOVER, Ala. - It was a tournament to forget for the Orange and Blue.
Coming into the Southeastern Conference Tournament on a three-game winning streak, the Gators baseball team was eliminated with its second loss in as many days Thursday.
No. 7 seed South Carolina (38-20) put up huge innings both early and late to pummel No. 3 seed UF (34-22) into submission and boot the Gators from the tourney for the second year in a row, 11-3.
"It's obviously a disappointment," senior first baseman Brandon McArthur said. "It's not exactly what we wanted to do. I believe that we were ready to play. We worked hard to get here and I think that us getting here when our backs were against the wall last week…we really took it upon ourselves."
Thursday's game saw great performances from Matt den Dekker, Cole Figueroa and McArthur, but the rest of the team could barely find a way to get on base against USC starter Nick Godwin (7-3).
Den Dekker scored all three of UF's runs and reached base on his first four plate appearances. Figueroa and den Dekker both had three hits, and McArthur had two RBIs in the game.
Godwin had no idea why den Dekker and Figueroa hit so well off him.
"I wish I knew," Godwin said. "It would have made my life easier. I made a couple of good pitches early in the count and got ahead of them, but late in the count I'd lead one over the plate."
"Those guys are good hitters," added USC coach Ray Tanner. "When you see guys like Figueroa and den Dekker, when you make a pitch on them, they don't swing at it. … They got pitches to hit and were able to get on base. Good players."
The rest of the lineup had a measly three hits on the day, and Godwin's seven strikeouts kept the five through nine hitters completely at bay.
Leadoff hitter and batting-average leader Avery Barnes had no hits in the game and one in the tournament. Freshman third baseman Josh Adams had only one hit today and none in Wednesday's 7-3 loss to Vanderbilt.
"Avery's had a great year for us, and he's not going to get three or four hits every game," UF coach Kevin O'Sullivan said.
The Gators got no hits from the designated hitter in either game, and awful starting pitching didn't help the anemic offense.
Thursday starter Billy Bullock (4-4) couldn't make it out of the second inning against USC. He gave up no runs in the first and had a 1-0 lead to work with, but he was responsible for all five second-inning runs the Gamecocks scored. In total, he allowed six hits, walked one and struck out two.
"It's tough to come from behind against anybody," O'Sullivan said. "I think Billy had six two-strike hits. It's a big inning."
When freshman Tommy Toledo replaced him, Toledo didn't do much to help. He immediately walked in two runs, and USC had all the scoring it needed.
"It's a lot of weight on our backs to be able to come back like that, to come out scoring first and then turn around and give up five in the second," McArthur said. "The momentum really changed with that inning."
Eleven batters came to the plate for USC in the inning.
UF seemed to chip away at the lead whenever den Dekker made a showing. He walked to start the third and scored on a McArthur single, then doubled in the fifth and was quickly brought home when Figueroa got a base knock up the middle to make it a 5-3 game.
But all doubt of who would win was erased in the Gamecocks' half of the eighth. Reliever Josh Edmondson, who to that point had recorded five outs in facing four batters thanks to an inning-ending double play in the sixth, fell apart.
Barnes committed a huge error to start the inning, dropping a fly ball in left field. What followed was two singles, a wild pitch, a walk and then a back-breaking three-run blast from USC first baseman Justin Smoak.
When the dust settled, UF was down 11-3 and had no shot of a comeback that would have seemed possible because USC blew a four-run lead in Wednesday's game against LSU in the bottom of the ninth.
"We'll go home and regroup," O'Sullivan said. "(At the) start of the season, no one picked us to make a regional or make the tournament. … These two games are disappointing for us, there's no question, but at the same time you've got to put it behind you."
O'Sullivan said that he thinks the Gators have earned a No. 1 seed in an NCAA regional. He added that he had never heard of a team finishing third in its league and not being the top seed in its regional.
The NCAA will select the host schools for the national tournament on Sunday, and the rest of the field will be announced on Monday.
"We've got a few real, real important games ahead of us next weekend," O'Sullivan said of the NCAA opening round. "Our goal is to go to Omaha like everybody else."
