Jones, Cullen spark Gamecocks past Albany
Chad Holbrook raved throughout the preseason about the impressive depth at catcher.
Saturday, that strength in numbers manifested itself.
JUCO transfer John Jones (3-4, 3 RBI) and freshman Chris Cullen (3-4, 2 RBI) combined for six hits, five RBI and four runs scored as South Carolina earned a 6-2 victory over Albany in the second game of a season-opening three-game series before an announced crowd of 7,825 fans at overcast Founders Park.
Serving as the DH, Jones jumped on the first pitch from Albany starter Marcus Failing and walloped a long solo homer over the left field wall in the bottom of the second to give the Gamecocks a 1-0 lead.
The following inning, Cullen led off with a single and moved to third on a groundout and wild pitch before scoring on a perfectly executed suicide squeeze by Marcus Mooney.
After Albany knotted the score at 2-2 in the top of the fourth on a two-run homer that barely cleared the right field wall, Cullen delivered a clutch two-out, run-scoring single in the bottom half of the inning for the eventual game-winning RBI.
“I like the way our guys responded (to Albany’s game-tying HR),” Holbrook said. “We didn’t explode offensively or anything, but we competed and scored in five of our eight innings. We had a chance to do a little more damage.”
Cullen, making his first career start at catcher, added another two-out RBI single to his afternoon’s output in the bottom of the sixth. Jones completed the scoring with a two-out, two-run single in the bottom of the seventh after both runners were balked into scoring position.
Jones, who ripped a bases-clearing double in Friday’s season opener, is 4-for-6 with a homer, six RBI and four runs scored in the first two games of the season.
Cullen, a freshman from Cumming, Ga., handled the pitching staff well and made no glaring mistakes defensively.
“Cullen is very gifted behind the plate,” Holbrook said after the game. “He makes every pitch look like a strike to me because he receives the ball so well. Jones is a gifted hitter. Hunter Taylor hasn’t even played yet and I love him too. Right now, (our catchers) are playing very well.
“I thought our catchers would be one of the strengths of our team and I hope that continues to bear out over the course of the season. Those guys are good players, and Hunter is a good player as well. Cullen is just a baseball player. It is very difficult to succeed all the time, but he has a way of making it look easy the way he catches and throws the ball down to second base. He’s a pretty darned good hitter too.”
Four Gamecock pitchers limited Albany to two hits, including the homer, while striking out nine and walking four.
Starting pitcher Braden Webb, a 20-year old freshman from Oklahoma making his first appearance on the mound in nearly two years after suffering a major elbow injury as a high school senior in 2014, hurled the first five innings, allowing two runs on one hit.
“He was amped up. He will learn a lot from the experience he had today,” Holbrook said. “His stuff was outstanding. He was probably just a little too amped up and it probably affected his command of his off-speed pitches. They were hunting just one pitch. He learned you have to get your curveball and changeup over the plate. He has all the tools to be a special one for us.”
When Webb exited after throwing 78 pitches, the trio of Reed Scott, Matt Vogel and Josh Reagan combined to register the final 12 outs. Vogel faced just two batters, so Scott (2.1 innings, retired all seven batters he faced) and Reagan (1.2 innings; four of five outs were strikeouts) did the lion’s share of the work.
Scott and Reagan combined for 25 strikes out of the 35 pitches thrown to get 12 outs.
Scott was the definition of efficient, needing just 16 pitches to record seven outs. Reagan was credited with his first save of the season.
“We pitched and played great defense (no errors for second straight game) and found a way to win without Dom (Thompson-Williams) or Alex (Destino) getting a hit,” Holbrook said. “Overall, I was pleased with what I saw and how we played.”
Holbrook and pitching coach Jerry Meyers have utilized eight different pitchers in the first two games.
HOW THE RUNS SCORED
USC 2nd – Bride popped to short, Jones homered to left, Hopkins flied to right, Arendas struckout. ONE RUN, ONE HIT (USC 1-0)
USC 3rd – Cullen singled to right, Scolamiero grounded to pitcher (Cullen to 2B), Cullen advanced to third on passed ball, Mooney bunted and reached on throwing error (E1)(Cullen scored), Thompson-Williams grounded to first, Destino struckout. ONE RUN, ONE HIT (USC 2-0)
ALB 4th – Canaday walked, Powers homered to right (2 RBI), Harasta grounded to short, Hinchy struckout, Todd struckout. TWO RUNS, ONE HIT (TIED 2-2).
USC 4th – Bride singled to right, Jones reached on fielder’s choice (9-6), Hopkins singled to left, Arendas struckout, Cullen singled to left (RBI), Hopkins caught stealing (2-5). ONE RUN, THREE HITS (USC 3-2).
USC 6th – Bride lined to right, Jones singled to right, Hopkins singled to right, Arendas flied to left, Cullen singled to left (RBI), Scolamiero grounded to first. ONE RUN, THREE HITS (USC 4-2).
USC 7th – Mooney walked, Thompson-Williams walked, Destino flied to right, Bride reached on fielder’s choice (U-5), Bride advanced to 2B and Thompson-Williams advanced to 3B on balk, Jones singled to center (2 RBI), Hopkins flied to center. TWO RUNS, ONE HIT (USC 6-2).
