As the ball left Ethan Petry’s bat and sailed deep into left field, South Carolina found itself with a first-inning lead over the top-ranked team in the country. Even though times had been tough, maybe this would be the moment where the tide turned.
But there’s a reason why the Gamecocks were off to a 1-5 start in SEC play and had lost their last four games. It only took one misplay in the following inning for the momentum in the game to shift the other way.
The Gamecocks fell into an early eight-run hole and suffered an 11-7 loss to No. 1 Tennessee in Friday’s series opener. They’ve now lost five straight games…