COLUMBIA, S.C. - Runs were at a premium with Blake Cooper and Bryan Morgado on the mound Friday night in the SEC opener between South Carolina and Tennessee.
It turned out the Gamecocks bullpen performed better and they opened league play with a 4-2 victory over the Vols in front of 6,211 at Carolina Stadium.
But the thing Tennessee coach Todd Raleigh was concerned about was the missed opportunities by his team.
The Vols loaded the bases with none out in the sixth inning and came away empty and couldn't push anything across until the seventh off Cooper.
P.J. Polk and Zach Osborne singled to lead off the sixth before Cody Hawn reached on an error to load the bases. Cooper induced Cody Stubbs to ground back to the mound and started a 1-2-3 double play.
Josh Liles ended the threat by flying out to left field with runners at second and third.
"You can't have a situation of the bases loaded and nobody out and come away with nothing," Raleigh said. "You hit it anywhere else but back to the pitcher and we score. We didn't get the timely hits."
That failed opportunity turned out to be huge. Polk, who had two of the four Tennessee hits, thought that inning was the turning point as well.
"That was a big opportunity that we didn't cash in on," Polk said.
The Vols (10-8, 0-1 SEC) finally tied the score in the seventh. Blake Forsythe drew a leadoff walk. One out later, Duffy doubled down the left field line to put runners at second and third. Pinch-hitter Charley Thurber grounded sharply to first and the ball glanced away from Nick Ebert allowing both runners to score.
The Gamecocks answered that in the eighth. Jackie Bradley, who had been out of the lineup since Sunday with stitches in his left thumb, drove in the winning-run with a one-out single off reliever Wil Locante. Kyle Enders followed with a sacrifice fly as South Carolina stretched its winning streak to eight games.
South Carolina (14-4, 1-0) took a 2-0 lead in the first. Whit Merrifield opened with a single before Adrian Morales drilled the first pitch he saw into the leftfield bleachers for his first career home run.
"The scouting report was he was a fastball guy and I wasn't going to let him beat me with the fastball," Morales said. "I saw pitch middle in and just jumped on it."
After that all the Gamecocks could muster off Morgado was a Scott Wingo single in the third. Morgado walked four and hit two batters in seven innings as he struggled with his command. Only half of his 110 pitches were strikes.
"I didn't have my best stuff but battled through," Morgado said. "I didn't get ahead in the count but I made pitches when it mattered. The fastball was just a mistake. It's a tough loss to take."
© 2010, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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Comments » 8
HonestVol writes:
I hate to say this but i think it's time for coach Raleigh to go. It seems like every year they talk about how good they're going to be and they get me all pumped up but then they stink it up and find a way to miss the post season. They are never as good as they say they're going to be. Losing to a bunch of no name teams. I think it's time for a change.
ric1958 writes:
first!!!!
Plasticman writes:
Same old story, different day. Vols strand runners with bases loaded... The count down to the end of the Raleigh era is continuing.Hope Hamilton is working on getting a REAL coach this time around.
Jamestown17 writes:
How did this guy ever get hired in the first place? His whole career he has been a sub .500 ball coach. Nothing has changed since he has been at Tennessee.
tenacjim#211887 writes:
Congratulations......soon you can proclaim "only" on a baseball story.
rclarkfork#639958 writes:
Yea it's Raleigh's fault we can't hit. I'm not the biggest Raleigh fan but he can't go out there and hit for them. The big hitters are just not coming through when they need a hit. They get a couple of hits when the bases are loaded with nobody out and they win, plain and simple as that. Raleigh did nothing that changed the outcome. I'm sure you are thew same fans who were yelling for Bruce and Pat's head early in the season.
Plasticman writes:
Botton line is the players don't like or respect Raleigh. He beats them down and most of them can't stand to play for him. Hamilton needs to get rid of him sooner than later...
volless writes:
I think it is time for the players to start playing and getting it done. Throw, catch and hit....execute a little something...Do the basics better then the opposition.
But if not..we can blame the coaches. They did get us all pumped up and getting rid of them always changes things...and it is all about us, the fans after all. Maybe General Neyland will come back and coach some baseball. That will do it for sure.
But the General would be too hard on kids and ask too much of them and they would all feel hurt and want to quit.
Maybe if they got lollipops everyday...they would win more.
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