Gamecocks designated hitter Noah Campbell stared down the barrel of a 6-foot-6 human cannon and didn’t blink. On a 2-2 pitch to lead off the first inning, Campbell took a 94-mph fastball from Florida starting pitcher Jackson Kowar deep to right-center field.
The ball bounced off the padded green wall at Founders Park in Columbia, South Carolina. Right fielder Wil Dalton, who appeared to lose the ball in the overcast sky, spotted it rolling back to the infield and sprinted to catch up with it. As Campbell rounded third, Dalton launched a throw that one-hopped its way to catcher JJ Schwarz, who applied the tag on the Gamecocks baserunner for the out.
That result held for about four minutes. After a South Carolina challenge of the ruling, home plate umpire Darren Spagnardi emerged from the home dugout after conferring with the league office and signaled the runner safe. Even when Florida looked to have succeeded, the Gamecocks still came through with a score.
That theme would not change all afternoon on Sunday as the Gators (17-4, 1-1 SEC) fell to South Carolina in a 15-7 slugfest.
After the leadoff inside-the-park home run, Kowar’s day didn’t get much better. The junior right-hander lasted just five innings. He allowed five earned runs off of seven hits while striking out five batters.
Kowar was relieved in the sixth inning after allowing a leadoff single, but the Gamecocks kept hitting off of whomever was thrown at them. Gators relief pitchers gave up a combined 10 runs on the afternoon. Freshman Tommy Mace allowed the bulk of those, with six earned runs charged to the young right-hander.
"We just didn't pitch very (well) today,” coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “Too many predictable fastball counts. We've got to do a better job pitching ahead in the count.”
Even with South Carolina (13-6, 1-1 SEC) shredding the Gator bullpen, UF still had a shot at tying the game as late as the eighth inning. After two consecutive hits from second baseman Blake Reese and left fielder Austin Langworthy to lead off the inning, the Gators found themselves down by just three with the tying run at the plate after pinch hitter Jordan Butler drew a full-count walk. With only one man out, Dalton popped out to second and designated hitter Nelson Maldonado struck out swinging.
Dalton, who has reached base successfully in his previous eight games, put together one of the stronger performances from the plate for Florida. The sophomore went 2-of-5 with a pair of rocket-shot homers. UF hit four dingers on the afternoon, but three of them ended up as solo shots, limiting the damage South Carolina took.
“We played from behind since the first inning, but I thought our offense was really good today,” O’Sullivan said. “They fought the entire day.”
The Gators and Gamecocks wrap up the series with Sunday’s rubber match at 1 p.m.
Follow Morgan McMullen on Twitter @MorganMcMuffin and contact him at mmcmullen@alligator.org.
Right fielder Wil Dalton registered the game-winning RBI in UF's 7-6 win over Georgia on Friday night.
