Stranded at home: South Carolina drops SEC baseball opener to Oklahoma
Brandon Stone was hoping to carry early-season success into his first career starting assignment for South Carolina as they opened SEC play against Oklahoma on Friday night at Founders Park. That hope lasted just briefly.
The No. 12 Sooners sent nine batters to the plate in the opening inning and scored four times to help propel them to an 8-5 victory in the series opener over South Carolina (15-4, 0-1 SEC).
Stone allowed four hits right out of the gate. Jason Walk, Trey Gambill and Easton Carmichael each singled before Jaxon Willits added a ground-rule double over the 380-sign in center field. Stone hit the fifth batter to load the bases before getting his first out — a grounder to second that made it 3-0.
Oklahoma (16-1, 1-0) added another run in the frame on a sacrifice fly that could have ended the inning, but Willits jarred the ball loose from Talmadge LeCroy on a perfect throw to the plate from Evan Stone.
“To their credit, the first inning (Oklahoma) hit some hard ground balls, and every ball found a hole,” USC coach Paul Mainieri said. “We gave them four runs right out of the gate. We never gave up and I’m proud of the guys. We will turn the page and get ready for (Saturday).”
Stone only allowed a solo home run after that, but the damage was done. The right-hander allowed five runs on seven hits with three strikeouts and two walks in five innings. His ERA went from 1.93 to 3.42.
South Carolina’s bullpen pitched well but did allow solo home runs, one each against Jackson Soucie and Parker Marlatt that aided the Sooners’ cause.
That first inning outburst helped Oklahoma starter Kyson Witherspoon, though the Gamecocks chased him out of the game in the sixth inning. The Sooners right-hander is the 26th-ranked draft prospect for 2025 by MLB.com and the top-ranked junior pitcher in the SEC.
Witherspoon was touching 95-96 mph with his fastball early and keeping hitters out of sync with off-speed stuff that was in the mid to upper 80s. But he faded in the sixth inning and ended up allowing three runs on six hits and seven strikeouts.
“We got in the hole right out of the gate facing one of the top pitchers in the country,” Mainieri said. “He’s a first-round pick. We fall into a 7-1 hole, and we never gave up.”
Jordan Carrion tripled with one out in the fifth and scored the Gamecocks’ first run on an RBI groundout from Henry Kaczmar.
The sixth inning brought the Founders Park crowd alive.
Kennedy Jones was hit by a pitch and KJ Scobey singled to chase Witherspoon from the game. Beau Hollins was hit by a pitch as well before the Gamecocks got four straight RBIs from LeCroy, Carrion, Henry Kaczmar and Nathan Hall that brought USC within 7-5.
“Our mindset was to win every inning, do the best we can against (Witherspoon) and go out there and compete,” Scobey said.
South Carolina finished with 12 hits but grounded into three double plays and stranded eight runners.
“At the end of the day, the solo home runs hurt us and we hit a couple of double plays when we got the leadoff runner on,” Mainieri said.
South Carolina Gamecocks catcher Talmadge LeCroy (5) attempts to tag out Oklahoma Sooners infielder Jaxon Willits (7) during their game at Founders Park, 3/14/25. Jeff Blake Jeff Blake Photo
USC BASEBALL SCHEDULE: UPCOMING GAMES
- Saturday vs. Oklahoma, 4 p.m. (SEC Network Plus)
- Sunday vs. Oklahoma, 1:30 p.m. (SEC Network Plus)
- Tuesday vs. Charleston at Segra Park, 6:30 p.m. (SEC Network Plus)
- March 21 at Arkansas, 7:30 p.m. (SEC Network Plus)
- March 22 at Arkansas, 3 p.m. (SEC Network Plus)
- March 23 at Arkansas, 3 p.m. (SEC Network Plus)
