Gamecock hurlers dominate in much needed win over Wofford
Badly craving a cheerful pick-me-up after consecutive discouraging losses to rival Clemson, South Carolina looked to its pitchers for a mental boost Tuesday night against Wofford.
They delivered a virtuoso performance in virtually a must-win situation.
Beginning with freshman Adam Hill (3.0 IP), four Gamecock hurlers combined for a season-high 17 strikeouts and just two walks (none in the first 8 innings) in a convincing 7-1 victory over the Terriers at Founders Park, improving USC to 11-2 on the season.
Hill and Tyler Johnson (by far his best stint of the season) combined for 12 strikeouts in the first seven innings before Brandon Murray and Matt Vogel recorded five strikeouts over the last two innings, fanning five of the nine batters they faced.
“Obviously, our pitchers threw the ball very well,” USC coach Chad Holbrook said.
USC faces Furman Wednesday night at Founders Park. Canaan Cropper (0-0, 2.25 ERA in 4.0 IP) is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Gamecocks.
Offensively, the big hits came from Dom Thompson-Williams (RBI single in 1st, two-run HR in 7th) and a two-run single from freshman L.T. Tolbert in the third when an error by the Wofford left fielder allowed a third run to score on the play, giving the Gamecocks a 4-1 lead.
Chris Cullen’s RBI single expanded the advantage to 5-1 in the bottom of the fifth.
Perhaps the best offensive statistic of the night: After striking out 27 times compared to eight walks in three games against Clemson, USC fanned just once on Tuesday in 35 at-bats. The Gamecocks focused Monday in practice on making better (and consistent) contact instead of “wailing away trying to hit home runs and being somebody we’re not.”
“I just think we have a chance to be really good offensively and be a lot better than how we performed over the weekend,” Holbrook said. “Our walk-to-strikeout ratio over the weekend was not indicative of a competitive team offensively. It was good to take a small step forward, but we can be a lot better than how we performed tonight. I’m not satisfied with us offensively right now. We have better hitters (than what we showed). We’re not consistent enough in our at-bats and our approach.”
Ten different Gamecocks collected at least one hit.
“We didn’t think we were going to have practice but (Coach) Holbrook wasn’t happy with us,” Thompson-Williams said. “We wanted to get back to the basics and what we had been doing in our first 10 games. That’s finding the barrel and making adjustments. That’s one thing we didn’t do too well this weekend.”
Hill, a promising freshman from Anderson, threw only 41 pitches in 3.0 innings, a possible precursor to shifting him to the weekend with Charleston Southern (March 11-13) and the SEC opening series against Arkansas (March 18-20) looming on the weekend calendar.
Hill surrendered his first run of the season in the top of the third after 13.1 scoreless innings on a double to left and RBI single that deflected off the glove of diving Gamecocks third baseman Jonah Bride.
“Obviously, (Hill) is a candidate to pitch on the weekend or we wouldn’t have had a predetermined start in this game,” Holbrook said. “We wanted to save his pitches, so he’ll be fresh and ready to go this weekend if we choose to pitch him. He is a candidate to throw on the weekend. But he may not.
“We’ll see how he bounces back. Last week he was a little slow to bounce back. He’s a young pitcher and we don’t want to rush him into anything. I’m not saying he is definitely going to be in the weekend rotation, but he is a strong candidate based on the way he has pitched. He has been consistent for a freshman.”
Johnson, a sophomore from Midlothian, Va., had allowed five hits and five runs in his first 2.2 innings this season, but flashed his potential by holding Wofford scoreless on two hits with seven strikeouts over 4.0 innings, lowering his ERA from 16.88 to 6.75.
Johnson threw 47 pitches, 34 for strikes. He fanned seven of the 14 Wofford batters he faced.
“That might be as good as I’ve seen Tyler Johnson throw, Holbrook said. “It was a very impressive performance from him. He has been waiting for an opportunity to get his confidence going a little bit. We pitched him in some shorts stints and he’s had some bad luck.
“His ERA wasn’t indicative of how much he has improved. Just from the naked eye, he was throwing in the mid-90s. And he had command of his pitches, including his breaking ball. He had a great night. Nobody on our staff has made a jump like Tyler Johnson has. He is one of the hardest workers on our team.”
Batting fifth for the second straight game following a short stint as USC’s leadoff hitter, Thompson-Williams put the exclamation point on the victory with a towering two-run homer over the right-field fence in the bottom of the seventh.
Thompson-Williams was 3-for-3 with 3 RBI and two runs scored on Tuesday after going 2-for-4 with a double and run scored in Sunday’s loss at Clemson. Thus, since being taken out of the leadoff spot, Thompson-Williams is 5-for-7 with 3 RBI and 3 runs scored.
“He is a gifted athlete that is very strong and explosive,” Holbrook said of DTW. “We need him to put a charge into some balls like he did tonight. He had some good swings.”
Thompson-Williams made his first start of the season in center field on Tuesday night.
“The five hole is way more relaxing than leadoff,” Thompson-Williams said. “You don’t have pressure on you at the beginning of the game to get on base. You have guys in front of you to settle the atmosphere down. I’m a lot more comfortable in the fifth hole.”
Gene Cone went 1-for-4 as USC’s sixth different leadoff batter in 13 games this season. Thompson-Williams served as the Gamecocks’ leadoff batter for five games, but never felt comfortable hitting at the top of the order and was dropped from the No. 1 spot after USC’s shutout loss to Clemson Saturday in Greenville.
“It might be seven (different leadoff hitters) tomorrow night,” Holbrook said. “I’m looking for somebody. Gene did it all last year. I struggle making out the lineup out every day at three or four spots. Gene has the most experience (batting leadoff).
“If we can get him to hit the ball on the ground and stop hitting fly balls, he has a chance to be in there a lot because he does everything I ask (of a leadoff batter). He can get a bunt down. He is polished. You can hit and run with him. He’s a good defender.
“That being said, I haven’t settled on a leadoff guy. At some point, I will settle on one. I don’t think it will be a revolving door for 56 games. But I struggle with it daily.”
HOW THE RUNS SCORED:
USC 1st – Cone struck out, Bride singled to center, Jones singled to right-center, Destino grounded to first, Thompson-Williams singled to pitcher (RBI), Thompson-Williams stole second, Cullen walked, Tolbert flied to center. ONE RUN, THREE HITS (USC 1-0).
WOF 3rd – Bradley doubled to left, Ruedisili struck out, Hirsch singled to left (RBI), Paradowski hit by pitch, McDougald grounded into 5-4-3 double play. ONE RUN, TWO HITS (TIED 1-1).
USC 3rd – Jones walked, Destino grounded into fielder’s choice (3-6), Thompson-Williams walked, Cullen singled to second, Tolbert singled to left (2 RBI) and advanced to second on fielding error (E7)(Cullen scored on E7), Mooney grounded to short, Arendas grounded to first. THREE RUNS, TWO HITS (USC 4-1).
USC 5th – Destino walked, Thompson-Williams singled to right, Cullen singled to center (RBI), Tolbert popped to short, Mooney grounded to short, Arendas flied to left. ONE RUN, TWO HITS (USC 5-1).
USC 7th – Destino singled to center, Thompson-Williams homered to right (2 RBI), Cullen popped to second, Tolbert popped to third, Mooney singled to right, Arendas grounded to second. TWO RUNS, TWO HITS (USC 7-1).
