South-Carolina
Jack's takes from a new low point in South Carolina's season after being swept
Leaving the Yard with Jack Veltri: South Carolina swept by Georgia
Where do you go from here if you’re South Carolina?
Logically, the only way to go is up. But with how much of a disaster this weekend was, it’s hard to envision what’s next for this ball club.
With a chance to salvage the series, the Gamecocks had a 6-4 lead going into the eighth inning on Saturday. But just like it had all weekend, Georgia scored 10 runs over the final two innings to secure a series sweep and 14-6 victory.
Here are my takes from an avoidable loss.
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Complete meltdown
I’m going to try and keep things as realistic as I can. This series was a nightmare from start to finish for South Carolina. The first two games of the series were rough, but Saturday might’ve been the worst one. It’s hard to believe this team had a 4-1 lead at one point in this game.
After 5.1 solid innings from newfound starter Garrett Gainey, Mark Kingston turned to his bullpen. Only needing 11 more outs to secure victory, his plan was to use Chris Veach and Dylan Eskew the rest of the way. Spoiler alert: that plan didn’t work.
Veach came in and gave up the tying run, though he did pitch well otherwise. Eskew on the other hand struggled mightily. He didn’t have much command on the mound as he gave up three runs on two hits after South Carolina had retaken the lead.
That wouldn’t be all, though. Connor McCreery came in later with the bases loaded, still in the eighth, and served up a go-ahead grand slam that would give the Dawgs the lead the rest of the day.
In total, the Gamecocks had to use six relievers after Gainey to get 11 outs. Again, 11 outs. The bullpen gave up seven earned runs on seven hits and walked five. This was like a knockout punch in a fight. South Carolina could never recover after that.
Perspective on what’s next
From a big picture standpoint, I think you can forget about seeing postseason baseball at Founders Park this summer. Barring some miracle run the next two weeks, the Gamecocks had their chance to handle business and couldn’t do so.
So instead, I’d say get ready to watch this team from your couch as they’ll more likely than not travel on the road to whatever regional they make in the NCAA Tournament. And yes, I believe they are making the tournament, regardless of what happens the rest of the year. Their RPI saves them.
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South Carolina still has to play one more regular season series before heading to Hoover for the SEC Tournament. The Gamecocks will travel to Knoxville on Thursday to face No. 1 Tennessee. And if you thought this series was bad, things could get uglier from here. And that’s not to say they can’t go in and find a way to scratch off a win or two. But the Vols are a solid team, and we’ll get into them more as the series approaches.
As of right now, you can definitely feel an energy shift after this weekend, at least I can. It’s almost like everything that could’ve gone wrong did go wrong, and it’s hard to recover from that. You can sense that there is going to be some sort of change on the horizon. What that could look like is a topic for another day. But with at least three weekends to go, things have to turn around rather fast.
Garrett Gainey is now your game three starter
Well, at least South Carolina has one capable starting pitcher, right? After a few weekends now with, for the most part, some rough starting pitching, Kingston has one solidified arm moving forward, which is Gainey.
Like I said before, Gainey tossed 5.1 innings of two-run ball against this Georgia lineup. Kingston kept saying after the game Gainey proved that it’s possible to pitch well against the Dawgs. He was seemingly the only one to be able to do so, plus a select few relievers.
Moving forward, Gainey will be a part of this weekend rotation for the foreseeable future. He got up to 81 pitchers on Saturday and will continue to build up to 100 pitches. Expect him to be ready to hit that threshold by Hoover or the NCAA Tournament.
If I were to make an early guess, the weekend rotation for Knoxville needs to be Ty Good, Eli Jones and Gainey. I mean, what else could it really be? If you can manage to get five decent innings from the first two guys and another strong outing from Gainey, you have a chance in any series. It’s just you need Good and Jones to do well like Gainey has. But we’ll see.
(WPDE) — ABC15 is the new official broadcast home for South Carolina Education Lottery (SCEL) drawings, beginning Wednesday, July 1!
Weekday evening drawings for Pick 3, Pick 4, Palmetto Cash 5 and Cash Pop will air live just before the 7:00 p.m. newscast and are approximately one minute long.
ABC15 will also air live jackpot drawings during its 11 p.m. newscast on:
- Mega Millions: Tuesdays and Fridays
- Powerball: Wednesdays and Saturdays
In addition to the live broadcasts, official SCEL results will be displayed on-screen following the midday Pick 3, Pick 4 and Cash Pop drawings. Weekend evening drawings will also be shown through official results crawls.
Richard Hricik, South Carolina’s Democratic nominee for attorney general, has officially launched his campaign for November’s general election.
Hricik was unopposed in the primary, automatically advancing to the ballot in November. He will now race against the Republican nominee David Stumbo, who beat Republican challenger Stephen Goldfinch in a runoff on June 23.
Hricik launched his campaign on June 25, just two days after the Republican primary runoff concluded.
In a press release Hricik, a Charleston attorney of more than 25 years, said that his campaign focuses on the fact that the rule of law should protect everyone equally.
“The Rule of Law isn’t red or blue. It has to apply to everyone, and be defended for everyone,” Hricik said. “An Attorney General who treats the law as their own political agenda — who protects some people and not others — threatens our democracy and makes every South Carolinian’s rights less safe. If someone attacks the State House in Columbia, I won’t ask who they voted for; it won’t matter — they are going to prison. That’s the law, and the Attorney General’s job is to defend and uphold The Rule of Law. For everyone.”
Hricik also announced that he has a no-money pledge for his campaign.
“An Attorney General is supposed to answer to two things: You and The Rule of Law. No one and nothing else,” Hricik said. “So, I take no money — not from special interests, not even from myself. That’s not a gimmick. It’s my firewall against corruption and influence. When you owe no one, you can fight for everyone and The Rule of Law.”
There has not been a Democrat in the attorney general office since Thomas Medlock, who left office in 1995.
Stumbo, who is currently serving a fourth term as Solicitor for the Eighth Judicial Circuit of South Carolina, ran his primary campaign on the basis of being a career prosecutor and lifelong Republican.
On runoff election night, Stumbo and his supporters gathered at the City Club of Greenville to watch results come in. In his winning speech that night, Stumbo said that while there hasn’t been a Democratic attorney general in South Carolina in many years, there would still be work ahead.
“We still got a lot of work to do, and I need everyone in this room fighting like crazy for the next few months to make sure that when we’re standing there on election night in November that we are officially the next attorney g eneral of South Carolina,” Stumbo said.
Ruth Cronin covers Greenville County business, growth and development. Contact her at rcronin@usatodayco.com.
HORRY COUNTY, S.C. (WPDE) — A judge has started the process for South Carolina to pursue the death penalty against Brandon Council, the man accused of killing two women during an armed bank robbery at CresCom Bank in 2017.
Council is charged federally with murder after authorities said he walked into the bank to commit an armed robbery that ended with two employees being shot and killed.
He was originally sentenced to death in federal court, but the Biden administration commuted the sentences of 37 death row inmates, changing their status to life in prison.
With Council no longer facing execution under the federal sentence, South Carolina is moving to revive state charges that had been dropped before he was federally charged.
READ MORE: Spectators pack courtroom as Alex Murdaugh returns to court after convictions overturned
In court, prosecutors sought to add dates to the case calendar as they pursue the death penalty again.
Fifteenth Circuit Solicitor Jimmy Richardson said the state had initially been looking at April 2027 for a trial date, but the judge denied that as too soon.
“We were being as aggressive as we could be. But by July 17th, the defense will give their order. We will turn in another order, and we’ll see if we can’t come to an agreement. That way, the judge doesn’t have a lot of problems. It’s just an agreement between the two sides,” Richardson said.
During the hearing, the judge and the state were asked about any bias before moving forward.
Richardson said, “I don’t know him. So he’s from a different state, and, they ask us to let them know about any bias. I don’t know about any bias. I just, you know, it’s whatever the crime is.”
He added, “The main thing for me was to get the schedule in order so that we know where we’re going, and it looks like we’re on the road to that, but we’re not there yet.”
READ MORE: Florence woman sentenced to 35 years in prison for 2-year-old’s death
At one point, Council sought to represent himself in court and objected to statements made by the prosecution.
By the end of the hearing, he changed his mind and accepted representation.
Richardson said he does not expect the trial until 2028.
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