Gamecocks blow lead, fall in SEC baseball tournament

HOOVER, Ala. — Blake Dean hit a solo home run in the bottom of the 10th inning to cap a late comeback and give LSU a 5-4 victory over South Carolina Wednesday in the opening game of the Southeastern Conference baseball tournament.

With the victory, the Tigers (40-16-1) extended their winning streak to 17 games. LSU has not lost since April 19.

Jared Bradford (10-4) pitched a scoreless 10th inning after giving up a leadoff walk to get the win for the Tigers.

LSU trailed 4-0 entering the bottom of the ninth. But two walks set up a three-run homer by Matt Clark off Will Atwood, cutting the lead to 4-3.

With two outs in the ninth, Ryan Schimpf blooped a hit that barely landed inside the left-field line, allowing D.J. LeMahieu to score from first base and send the game into extra innings.

Dean sealed the victory an inning later by sending a 2-0 pitch from Alex Farotto (0-1) over the right-field fence.

The Gamecocks (37-20) were in control for much of the game, thanks to freshman pitcher Sam Dyson, who allowed only two hits over 6 2/3 innings.

Dyson gave up a leadoff single in the second inning, then did not allow another hit until the seventh. He was pulled after giving up a two-out triple to LeMahieu in the seventh.

South Carolina broke a scoreless tie in the top of the fourth when Phil Disher blasted a solo home run just to the right of the 405-foot marker in straightway center field. It was Disher’s 17th homer of the season.

The Gamecocks extended their lead to 3-0 in the sixth when Harley Lail delivered a two-run single to left field with two outs and the bases loaded. South Carolina added another run in the top of the ninth when DeAngelo Mack scored on a single by Reese Havens.