Stone goes the distance and leads South Carolina to series-opening win over Rebels

Like most pitchers, Brandon Stone has seen his role change throughout the season, bouncing between starting and long relief. Even still, he had always been a regular in South Carolina’s pitching plans, especially on the weekends.

But when the Gamecocks traveled to Texas A&M last weekend, the right-hander didn’t see any action, nor the team’s midweek game that followed. Head coach Paul Mainieri cited that nothing was wrong with Stone, believing there were “better guys to use” in certain situations.

Mainieri reassured Stone would be a factor in the team’s next series against Ole Miss, though. And not just that, but getting the start in the series opener, to which Stone delivered his best start of the year.

Stone went the distance in a complete game effort, guiding the Gamecocks to a 3-2 win over the Rebels on Thursday. It marked the team’s longest outing from a starter as well as the first complete game of the season.

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Stone, who hadn’t pitched since April 6, only made a pair of mistakes, giving up two solo home runs, one in the third inning and another in the sixth. Besides that, he was in control for the rest of the night. He pitched nine innings of two-run ball, striking out four without a walk. His defense gave him a boost, turning three double plays. But he only needed 86 pitches, 61 of which were strikes, to make it the whole way through.

Meanwhile, South Carolina (22-17, 3-13 SEC) did just enough offensively to back Stone up in his outing. After scoring right away in the first, the Gamecocks broke a 1-1 tie in the fifth with two runs on four hits against Ole Miss left-hander Hunter Elliott.

Gavin Braland brought home the go-ahead run on a fielder’s choice, where Ole Miss shortstop Luke Cheng made a diving stop, but his throw to the plate was not in time. Nathan Hall drove in an additional insurance run with an RBI single into left.

Up next: South Carolina will go for the series win over the Rebels on Friday afternoon. With the spring football game in the evening, first pitch will be at 4 p.m. on SEC Network Plus. Jake McCoy (3-3, 7.30 ERA) will get the start.

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