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Big bats go boom as Gamecocks crush Penn State to secure series win

Alex Destino smacks the first of his two homers in Saturday's game
Alex Destino smacks the first of his two homers in Saturday's game (Paul Collins, Gamecock Central)

Throughout sophomore Alex Destino’s slow offensive start to his career, South Carolina head coach Chad Holbrook’s faith in the Weaver, N.C., native never wavered.

Last season, Destino started strong but eventually slumped to a final .251 batting average with six homers and 35 RBI.

After six games this season, Destino was struggling with a lowly .240 (6-25) batting average and no extra base hits.

Yet, Holbrook unapologetically continued to express confidence in the sophomore, again inserting him into the middle of the lineup for Saturday’s second game of a three-game set against Penn State.

Holbrook’s faith was finally rewarded.

*** Also see: Photo gallery by Paul Collins and Chris Gillespie ***

Batting cleanup in a lineup loaded with left-handed hitters, Destino walloped a three-run homer in the second inning, a grand slam in USC’s seven-run third and drove in a career-high seven runs as South Carolina pummeled overmatched Penn State, 16-5, Saturday at Founders Park to stay unbeaten at 7-0.

“It was a good day for me seeing the ball go up in the air,” Destino said. “I’m finally hitting the ball hard and having something to show for it for the team from an RBI standpoint. Anytime you hit a home run, that gets your mind where it needs to be.”

Destino and the Gamecocks go for the sweep Sunday at 1:30 p.m. in the series finale.

“I just want Alex to play up to his capability,” Holbrook said after Saturday’s game. “He is one of the best hitters in the country. I don’t care if he’s hitting .220 or .420, I believe when he is in the batter’s box he is going to do some damage. When the pitcher throws it in there he has a chance to hit it out of the park or hit it hard somewhere. He can have a great year. We can win games when he is not performing at a high level, but it makes it a lot easier when he does some of the things he did today. He is a gifted player and gifted hitter. Very strong. He can mishit a ball and it can still go out of the park.”

Hot-hitting catcher John Jones smacked a grand slam over the right-field fence in the bottom of the sixth in his only official at-bat of the day as he walked four times in his first four plate appearances prior to his sixth-inning slam.

Now batting .542 (13-24), Jones has 17 RBI in seven games and ranks among the national leaders in that category. Last season, catchers Logan Koch and Hunter Taylor started a combined 56 of 57 games behind the plate – 76 games overall – and managed to accumulate just four homers and 25 RBI.

USC led, 10-2, after three innings and cruised home from there as 19 different players saw action.

Holbrook said the key to the game was USC’s seven-run response to Penn State scoring twice in the top of the third to narrow the gap to 3-2, a decisive inning capped by Destino’s grand slam in which he swatted a high breaking pitch over the right-field wall.

Ten Gamecocks came to the plate in the bottom of the third, which featured three walks.

“They had a little momentum going and our guys had some great at-bats in the third innings,” Holbrook said. “We laid off some tough pitches, we competed and got into hitters’ counts and took a few walks before we got the big swing from Alex. When the game got tight, we buckled down and had some pretty good at-bats.”

Ten Gamecocks contributed a hit to USC’s 18-hit offensive onslaught, pummeling five Penn State pitchers. Freshman Dany Blair started in center and collected three hits, while Marcus Mooney contributed two hits and two RBI. Freshman L.T. Tolbert (first start of the season at first base) and D.C. Arendas had two hits apiece.

The bottom one-third of USC’s batting order (Arendas, Mooney and Blair) went a combined 7-for-15 with three RBI and four runs scored.

Nittany Lions starter Sal Biasi yielded six runs and seven hits before departing with one out in the bottom of the third.

“Alex got the game off to a good start for us (with the 3-run HR in the 1st inning) against a pitcher I thought was throwing it pretty good in there,” Holbrook said. “When the game started I thought it might be tough to score on this kid.

“But we did a good job picking our pitch and got into some hitter’s counts and had some big swings of the bat. We have some guys in the middle of the lineup that are strong and can do some damage if they swing at pitches over the plate. We’ve had some good, quality at-bats over the course of the first seven games.”

The two teams combined for 15 walks and six errors in the sloppy affair.

Freshman right-hander Braden Webb made his second start for USC on the mound and allowed three hits and two runs over 5.0 innings to get credit for the win, improving his record to 2-0.

“I felt my off-speed stuff was a lot better today after working in the bullpen this week,” Webb said. “I don’t have to rely strictly upon the fastball. People are always sitting on it, so off-speed pitches help a lot.”

Colton Provey, Tyler Haswell, Vince Fiori and Destino each pitched an inning. Matt Vogel faced just one batter in the top of the eighth before departing with a blister.

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