Freshman left fielder Trent Mummey: slides into third base against South Carolina. The No. 10-ranked Gamecocks came into Plainsman Park and took all three games from Auburn. Auburn had a three game winning streak coming into the weekend series. Kyle Cooper / ASSOCIATE PHOTO EDITOR
South Carolina came into Plainsman Park last weekend with its bats in tow.
The No. 10 ranked Gamecocks (8-6, 24-10) lineup tore up Auburn (6-8, 22-14) pitching scoring a combined 22 runs in the three game sweep of the Tigers.
The Gamecocks were led by big bopper Justin Smoak who set the South Carolina record for career home runs Friday night off Grant Dayton, the 49th for the junior first baseman.
Smoak and the rest of the Gamecock lineup had Auburn’s outfielders reversing their field and racing toward the outfield fence most of the weekend.
“Credit South Carolina. Every time we made a mistake on the mound they hammered it,” coach Tom Slater said. “Any time we made a mistake defensively, they took advantage of it.”
South Carolina came into the weekend leading the SEC in home runs and only padded its lead, going yard seven times — four of which came Saturday night as Auburn and South Carolina combined for six home runs in the 8-6 defeat.
While Auburn pitching couldn’t hold the Gamecocks’ offense down, Auburn’s offense didn’t back down, scoring six runs in each game of the series.
“Our offense has showed time and time again we’re going to give ourself chances to win games,” Slater said.
Auburn battled down to the last out of the series, losing the final game 7-6 with freshman Brian Fletcher representing the tying run on first base after a three-run Hunter Morris home run with nobody out in the ninth inning brought the Tigers within one.
“All three games this weekend we could have won,” Slater said. “We get winning runs on. We get tying runs to the plate. We seem to do a good job of that offensively.”
Sunday’s game was delayed for nearly half an hour in the seventh inning after two South Carolina players collided in the outfield.
South Carolina left fielder Andrew Crisp collided with centerfielder Will Merrifield on a Justin Hargett fly ball. Ambulances were called and Crisp was taken off the field in a stretcher.
Crisp had surgery on his spinal cord last fall.
“Hopefully he’ll be OK,” Slater said. “I talked to (USC) coach Tanner and he wasn’t so sure. A fused vertebrae is a tough surgery to have, especially at that age.”
With the sweep, Auburn fell below .500 in SEC play, dropping to third in the SEC East behind Alabama.
“It’s disappointing,” Slater said, “We started out with a sweep at Florida, and since that time, we played good baseball and won three series in a row. It’s disappointing to get swept at home by a really good South Carolina team, but I have a lot of belief and faith in this team,
“We’re going to be OK. We’re still right there in the hunt.”
With half the SEC schedule left to be played Slater was optimistic about his teams chances, but recognized the team must improve after being swept by South Carolina.
“I think we’re past the point of moral victories here,” Slater said. “I like our club, and I want us to win, and I think our kids our putting themselves in a position to win.”
