South-Carolina
LSU baseball pulls off improbable comeback vs South Carolina in SEC Baseball Tournament
The game already had heads spinning.
LSU baseball had methodically erased an eight-run deficit, sending the game to extra innings, tied at 10-10 after Paxton Kling scored off a throwing error from South Carolina third baseman Lee Ellis.
In the top of the 10th, the Gamecocks attempted to steal home, but Blake Johnson was tagged out at home plate — which both teams thought ended the half inning. After lengthy debate, the umpire crew ruled LSU catcher Brady Neal stepped in front of home plate before he had possession of the ball from pitcher Griffin Herring. The run was awarded to South Carolina, giving it the 11-10 lead.
But that set the stage for Steven Milam. The freshman, with Hayden Travinksi on base, pounded a high fastball the became a walk-off, two-run home run to lift the Tigers to an improbable 12-11 win over the Gamecocks (36-23) in the SEC Baseball Tournament semifinals.
LSU (40-20) advances to the SEC Tournament championship game Sunday where it’ll face the winner of Tennessee and Vanderbilt.
REQUIRED READING LSU baseball rallies in 9th to edge South Carolina in SEC Baseball Tournament
LSU baseball climbs back into the game capitalizing off South Carolina miscues
Déjà vu.
South Carolina was in control late in the game. A throwing error from Talmadge LeCroy at third base allowed the Tigers to cut into the Gamecocks’ lead, cutting it to a one-run game. Michael Braswell ended up propelling LSU ahead in the ninth with an RBI single and LSU held on 11-10.
South Carolina, which led the Tigers 8-0 at one point in the SEC Baseball Tournament semifinals Saturday afternoon, clung to a 10-9 lead in the bottom of the ninth. A throwing error from USC third baseman Lee Ellis allowed LSU pinch hitter Ethan Frey to score from second to tie the game up 10-10, sending the game to extra innings.
LSU baseball coach Jay Johnson ejected in 10th inning on South Carolina’s attempt at stealing home
South Carolina coach Mark Kingston decided to gamble and send Blake Johnson home on a steal attempt with two outs in top of the 10th.
LSU catcher Brady Neal stepped forward as pitcher Griffin Herring began his throwing motion as Jackson was racing home. Initially, Jackson was called out as Neal caught the ball and placed the tag. But, after a lengthy discussion, the umpires determined Neal stepped on the plate without possession of the ball which is a violation of a rule that results in a balk and a interference.
As a result, South Carolina was awarded the run and LSU coach Jay Johnson became heated about the ruling. During his debate with the umpires, he was ejected — Johnson’s first instance of the season.
Despite not having their coach in the dugout, LSU came through in the end.
LSU baseball gets timely hits after going down big to South Carolina in SEC Baseball Tournament semifinals
It wasn’t a pretty start to the game for LSU. It looked out of gas and the defense was sloppy in the early stages of the game.
At the plate, the Tigers opened the game 0-for-10 with runners on and 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position. They closed the game going 4-for-13 with base runners and 3-for-10 with RISP as the Tigers chipped away and eventually tied things up in the ninth.
LSU scored six runs with two outs, continuing a trend that’s won it a lot of ballgames down the stretch of the regular season.
LSU RALLIES PAST SOUTH CAROLINA LSU baseball rallies in 9th to edge South Carolina in SEC Baseball Tournament
LSU RUN RULES KENTUCKY LSU baseball run-rules Kentucky in SEC Baseball Tournament behind pair of grand slams
Cory Diaz covers the LSU Tigers for The Daily Advertiser as part of the USA TODAY Network. Follow his Tigers coverage on Twitter: @ByCoryDiaz. Got questions regarding LSU athletics? Send them to Cory Diaz at bdiaz@gannett.com.
South Carolina football coach Shane Beamer has his Gamecocks at 7-3 and ranked in the top 20. Both the AP Poll and the USA Today Coaches Poll dropped on Sunday, USC is No. 19 in each ranking. The College Football Playoff Rankings will be updated on Tuesday, and Carolina will be in the top 20 there, too.
However, the ESPN FPI (Football Power Index) has been higher on the Gamecocks for a while. In fact, the latest FPI update slotted South Carolina just outside of College Football Playoff territory.
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Based on ESPN’s FPI rankings, the Gamecocks are the 13th-best team in college football.
The move to 13th is just a one-spot jump for South Carolina. However, with an upcoming matchup against No. 12 (Clemson) and several top teams having to play each other (Indiana vs. Ohio State, etc.), the small step closer to the top 12 represents hope. Making the College Football Playoff is still a bit of a longshot, but the odds are shortening.
The Gamecocks’ No. 13 ranking stems from a nice combination of efficiency numbers. According to ESPN, strong recent play has bumped USC to No. 46 nationally in offensive efficiency. South Carolina ranks 5th in ESPN’s defensive efficiency metric. Special teams isn’t weighted as heavily, but the Gamecocks are 70th. Because of those numbers, Carolina is 17th in the ESPN FPI overall efficiency.
With the update, the FPI gives the garnet and black a much better chance of a great season. The predictive model now projects a final record of 8.4-3.6. South Carolina has won at least nine games in a season just seven times. They’ve won at least 10 games in just four seasons; those years were 1984, 2011, 2012, and 2013. Reaching both the 9-win and 10-win thresholds are on the table.
Based on ESPN’s percentages, the Gamecocks have a 41.9% chance to win their remaining regular season games. That includes a 99% chance to knock off Wofford and then a 42% chance to beat the rival Clemson Tigers. The outlet also gives Carolina a 10.9% chance to win out AND make the College Football Playoff at 9-3. Even if they don’t make the 12-team field, USC should find themselves in a nice bowl game this winter.
[Win two tickets to the South Carolina-Wofford football game]
Because they are an FCS team, the Wofford Terriers are unranked in the FPI. However, the Spartanburg-based squad is 5-6 on the season and 3-5 in SoCon play.
Saturday will be South Carolina’s final home contest of the season, and the Gamecocks and Terriers will kick off at 4:00 p.m. Fans not in attendance will have to stream the game on ESPN+ or SEC Network+.
Shane Beamer’s South Carolina football team is 7-3 (and 5-3 in conference play). The Gamecocks have won four games in a row and have finished their SEC slate with a winning record for the first time since 2017.
Carolina’s most recent win—a wild ride that concluded with a Rocket Sanders touchdown and subsequent celebration that registered as an earthquake on seismographs—saw the Gamecocks finally defeat the Missouri Tigers after losing five straight Mayor’s Cup games in a row.
Thanks to the win streak, including three straight ranked wins, the national perception around South Carolina is improving.
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ESPN’s Mark Schlabach and Kyle Bonagura released their updated bowl season projections on Sunday. Like last week, both analysts picked the Reliquest Bowl (formerly called the Outback Bowl) as the Gamecocks’ winter destination. However, the colleagues traded their predicted USC opponents. Previously, Schlabach thought the Gamecocks would play Illinois, while Bonagura foresaw a meeting with the Iowa Hawkeyes. In this week’s update, Schlabach went with Iowa, while Bonagura picked Illinois. South Carolina and Illinois have never played, but the Gamecocks have played Iowa once previously.
CBS analyst Jerry Palm, who was late to acknowledge South Carolina as a bowl team, now projects USC to play against the Louisville Cardinals in the Gator Bowl. Carolina’s most recent trip to the Gator Bowl came in a 2022 loss to Notre Dame. The Gamecocks also fell three times in the Gator Bowl in the 1980s. Despite being old Metro Conference rivals in basketball, South Carolina and Louisville have never met on the gridiron.
Steve Lassan of The Athletic projected the Gamecocks to the Reliquest Bowl. The Tampa-based postseason contest has hosted USC five times previously. In Lassan’s view, the 2024 South Carolina football squad will match up with the Iowa Hawkeyes in the Reliaquest Bowl. Though Carolina is 4-1 in previous Reliaquest/Outback Bowls, the program’s one loss in the game came to Iowa. The loss following the 2008 season was the only time the Gamecocks and Hawkeyes have played.
Brett McMurphy of the Action Network also thinks South Carolina will end up in Tampa playing the Iowa Hawkeyes in the Reliaquest Bowl.
[Win two tickets to the South Carolina-Wofford football game]
Now with seven wins and likely at least one more remaining, South Carolina football fans expect their favorite team to play in a nice bowl. In fact, if a lot of things break the Gamecocks’ way, the College Football Playoff could come calling. The chances are small, but following the team’s recent strong play, those chances are improving.
Next up for South Carolina is an in-state battle against the FCS Wofford Terriers. The Terriers will make the drive down I-26 to Columbia for a 4:00 p.m. kickoff. ESPN+ and SEC Network+ will stream the game as it is not available on traditional television.
The Missouri Tigers some of their best football of the 2024 season in the second half against South Carolina. Ultimately, the 24 points in the final two quarters was not enough to come out on top.
Here’s the full snap counts for Missouri in its third loss of the season, followed by a full season tracker, retrived from Pro Football Focus.
Offense
RT Armand Membou, 70, 100%
C Drake Heismeyer, 70, 100%
QB Brady Cook, 70, 100%
LT Marcus Bryant, 70, 100%
RG Cam’Ron Johnson, 70, 100%
WR Theo Wease Jr., 67, 96%
LG Cayden Green, 63, 90%
WR Luther Burden III, 57, 81%
TE Jordon Harris, 47, 67%
HB Jamal Roberts, 43, 61%
WR Marquis Johnson, 40, 57%
TE Brett Norfleet, 28, 40%
WR Mekhi Miller, 26, 37%
HB Marcus Carroll, 15, 21%
LG Mitchell Walters, 12, 17%
HB Nate Noel, 8, 11%
WR Daniel Blood, 5, 7%
HB Tavorus Jones, 4, 6%
WR Joshua Manning, 3, 4%
LT Tristan Wilson, 1, 1%
TE Tyler Stephens, 1, 1%
• Redshirt freshman Jamal Roberts played noticably more than Marcus Carroll for the second week i na row.
Defense
CB Dreydon Norwood, 68, 100%
DB Daylan Carnell, 67, 99%
FS Joseph Charleston, 67, 99%
DE Johnny Walker Jr., 59, 87%
LB Corey Flagg, 56, 81%
DB Nicholas Deloach Jr., 51, 74%
LB Triston Newson, 50, 72%
DE Zion Young, 45, 65%
DL Kristian Williams, 44, 64%
DL Chris McClellan, 43, 62%
DB Marvin Burks Jr., 33, 48%
CB Toriano Pride Jr., 28, 41%
DB Caleb Flagg, 27, 39%
DT Sterling Webb, 26, 38%
LB Chuck Hicks, 18, 26%
DE Eddie Kelly Jr., 13, 19%
DB Sidney Williams, 11, 16%
DL Jahkai Lang, 10, 14%
DL Jalen Marshall, 9, 13%
NT Marquis Gracial, 9, 13%
DB Tre’Vez Johnson, 9, 13%
DL Jaylen Brown, 6, 9%
LB Nicholas Rodriguez, 5, 7%
DE Williams Nwaneri, 5, 7%
• Nicholas Deloach Jr. continues to hold a more prominent role than Clemosn transfer Toriano Pride Jr.
Offense
LT Marcus Bryant, 685, 100%
RT Armand Membou, 677, 99%
RG Cam’Ron Johnson, 600, 88%
LG Cayden Green, 594, 87%
C Connor Tollison, 582, 85%
QB Brady Cook, 523, 76%
WR Theo Wease Jr., 521, 76%
WR Luther Burden III, 454, 66%
WR Mookie Cooper, 328, 48%
TE Brett Norfleet, 306, 45%
WR Mekhi Miller, 287, 42%
HB Nate Noel, 286, 42%
WR Joshua Manning, 280, 41%
TE Jordon Harris, 274, 40%
G Mitchell Walters, 256, 38%
HB Marcus Carroll, 218, 32%
QB Drew Pyne, 217, 32%
WR Marquis Johnson, 190, 28%
HB Jamal Roberts, 173, 25%
C Drake Heismeyer, 153, 22%
TE Tyler Stephens, 125, 18%
WR Daniel Blood, 114, 17%
T Jayven Richardson, 57, 8%
G Logan Reichert, 56, 8%
G Tristan Wilson, 49, 7%
HB Kewan Lacy, 42, 6%
G Curtis Peagler, 26, 4%
HB Tavorus Jones, 24, 3%
TE Jude James, 21, 3%
WR James Madison II, 13, 2%
WR Courtney Crutchfield, 10, 1%
WR Logan Muckey, 8, 1%
C Talan Chandler, 7, 1%
TE Whit Hafer, 3, 0%
QB JR Blood, 2, 0%
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