Strange bounces. Bizarre mistakes. Stranded runners.

When the Auburn baseball team plays South Carolina, it’s all par for the course.

The Tigers’ run of bad luck and tough losses against the Gamecocks continued Friday night, as No. 15 South Carolina dodged an Auburn comeback to take a 7-6 win at Plainsman Park.

Auburn is 6-22 against the Gamecocks since 1998. But head coach Tom Slater says the ugly history of the series has nothing to do with Friday’s loss.

“I don’t believe in karma, history, any of that stuff,” Slater said.

Auburn (22-13, 6-7 Southeastern Conference) looked star-crossed at times, like when junior Mike Bianucci was picked off second base in the seventh to help kill a promising rally.

But the Tigers were within striking distance in the bottom of the ninth.

With Auburn trailing, 7-6, Bianucci hit a leadoff single off USC reliever Brandon Todd (2-1). Two batters later, Joseph Sanders singled to move Bianucci to second.

But Todd made sure Auburn’s bad luck continued: He forced freshman Brian Fletcher to ground out to second, starting a game-ending double play. The Tigers could only wonder what might have been if they’d taken advantage of a few of their early opportunities.

“It’s just hard to watch a game like that get out of our hands like that,” Auburn starter Grant Dayton said. “We had a chance to put it away.

“We fought real hard. We just couldn’t pull it through.”

In the early innings, South Carolina (23-10, 7-6 SEC) threatened to turn the game into a rout.

First baseman Jeff Smoak put the Gamecocks on the board with a solo home run in the first inning off Dayton. The blast hit near the top of the scoreboard in left-center field, at least 380 feet from home plate. The homer was the 49th of Smoak’s USC career, a school record.

Andrew Crisp gave USC a 3-0 lead with a two-run homer to left in the second.

“They’re really good hitters,” Dayton said. “I left two balls over the plate and they knocked them out of the park.”

But Dayton rallied, holding the Gamecocks to three more runs over the next five innings, as AU’s offense pulled ever closer. The redshirt freshman pitched into the eighth inning, when he gave up a one-out double to Phil Disher and was replaced by Michael Hurst.

Hurst escaped the inning, and Auburn tied the score at 6 with an RBI single from Trent Mummey.

But Hurst (2-2) ran into trouble in the ninth.

After striking out Crisp to start the inning, Hurst walked USC’s Scott Wingo. With Wingo on first and leadoff hitter Reese Havens at the plate, USC coach Ray Tanner called for a hit-and-run.

The play didn’t work as planned, but it was effective enough.

As Wingo took off for second, Havens took an awkward swing and barely made contact. The ball, a slow roller, squibbed between Hurst and third baseman Joseph Sanders, directly toward the spot usually occupied by shortstop Matt Hall.

But Hall was racing to cover second base. The ball rolled into left field with Hall in pursuit as Wingo advanced to third. Havens was credited with a single.

“That’s the breaks of the game sometimes,” Slater said.

Reliever Bryan Woodall replaced Hurst and forced the next batter, Whit Merrifield, to hit a ground ball; Wingo scored to give the Gamecocks a 7-6 lead.

Woodall retired Justin Smoak to end the inning, but the damage was done.

The series continues at 3 p.m. today. Freshman left-hander Cory Luckie (4-3, 3.31 ERA) will start for Auburn against USC lefty Will Atwood (3-1, 3.71).

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