No. 13 South Carolina falls to No. 20 Clemson in nine inning defensive battle

On the road, South Carolina fell 2-1 to Clemson in the ninth inning of a fast paced defensive battle. Three solo homers accounted for all three runs scored amongst the two teams.

South Carolina struck first as Arianna Rodi hit her 13th home run of the season. Rodi hit one 250 feet over the right field wall in the top of the third to give South Carolina the lead.

Rodi went 2-for-4 and extended her on-base streak to 35 games.

Lexington native Lexi Winters had a solid night at the plate going 2-for-4. Winters also had a huge tag out at the plate to stop the Tigers from scoring on a beautiful throw from Quincee Lilio in centerfield, keeping the Gamecocks up 1-0 at the time.

South Carolina fielding was strong against the Tigers. In the second, shortstop Brooke Blankenship made a diving catch to end the inning. Followed by Emily Vinson in the third robbing Clemson of a three-run homer.

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It wasn’t until the bottom of the sixth inning when another run was scored. Freshman Marian Collins tied the game for the Tigers with a solo homer to center.

After seven, the game remained tied 1-1 forcing extra innings. But the game ended in Clemson’s favor with another Collins solo homer this time in the bottom of the ninth.

Junior pitcher Jori Heard collected her 200th career strikeout against Clemson’s Macy Cintron in the first inning. Heard’s night ended after just 2.1 innings. Heard had two strikeouts giving up three hits and no runs.

Replacing Heard, Sam Gress finished the game going 5.2 innings. Gress gave up both solo homers by Collins while only giving up six hits.

Up Next: The Gamecocks will host Kentucky (27-17, 6-9 SEC) in a three game series. First pitch is set for Apr 19 at 3:00p.m. The game will be available to watch on SECN.

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