Late-inning rallies have been a theme for Georgia three weeks into SEC play, but Saturday against South Carolina, the Bulldogs’ good fortunes ran out.

Down by seven in the seventh, the Bulldogs scored five runs to cut the lead to two. They had the bases loaded when Riley King grounded out to end the inning. That would be as close Georgia would get as the Gamecocks went on to a post a 13-7 win, evening the weekend series at one win apiece.

“It’s 8-1. We’ve got no life, and all of a sudden it’s 8-6, the bases are loaded, and a 2-0 count on Riley King. I think everyone in red and black would have taken that scenario,” head coach Scott Stricklin said. “We put ourselves in position with a chance to win the game.”

Unfortunately, the Bulldogs (18-8, 3-5) lost that ground quickly, as the Gamecocks tacked on three more runs in the eighth and two in the ninth to put the game away.

The game started impressively enough, as starting pitcher Ryan Webb (2-1) struck out the first five batters he faced before nine-hole hitter George Callil put the Gamecocks (18-7, 6-3) up 2-1 in the third. It would be the first of four home runs hit by South Carolina, an outburst that included shots by Josiah Sightler, Andrew Eyester, and Wes Clarke, whose ninth-inning blast was his 15th this year—tops in the SEC.

“They’re all big swingers, and they’re all really big, strong guys. You make one mistake, and they can hurt you really bad,” Webb said. “I felt like I had pretty good stuff. But when you make mistakes against a team like that, they’ll capitalize, and today I felt like they did.”

Parks Harber and Connor Tate would homer for the Bulldogs, who scored five runs in the seventh and had the bases loaded with the tying run at second base when King grounded out to end the inning.

“We showed a little bit of toughness today, as far as being down 8-1 and not completely crumbling,” said Garrett Blaylock, whose pinch-hit single off Brannen Jordan (3-2) brought home two of the runs. “But it obviously wasn’t enough tonight.”

Webb was charged with seven of the runs, six earned, with one walk and eight strikeouts.

Relievers Hank Bearden, Jaden Woods, and Liam Sullivan followed, but were able to solve the hard-hitting Gamecock squad, which out-hit the Bulldogs 13-6.

“After two innings, if you'd told me 20 runs were going to be scored, I’d have told you you were crazy. Because both pitchers were really locked in,” Stricklin said. “But they got a couple up in the jet stream. It really carried today. It was surprising, because the wind wasn’t really whipping around. But it did carry, and that’s the fear when you play this team.”

Boxscore

As expected, junior second baseman Josh McAllister missed Saturday’s game with a hamstring injury.

He suffered an injury during the seventh inning of Friday’s 5-3 win, while beating out a fielder’s choice.

“Josh pulled his hamstring. It’s not a major one, but it’s enough where he did not dress out today and won’t (Sunday),” said Stricklin. “After that, he’ll be day-to-day.”

Georgia and South Carolina wrap up their three-game series Sunday at 1:02 p.m. Jonathan Cannon (1-1, 3:07) starts for the Bulldogs.