Notes + Quotes: USC-The Citadel

Notes and quotes from Tuesday night's USC-The Citadel baseball game.

- Chris Cullen batted fifth Tuesday. It is the highest he’s batted this season. His double in the first extended his hitting streak to six games.

- John Jones struck out in his first at-bat, ending his streak of 14 straight plate appearances where he reached base. Jones finished 2-for-4 with a run scored, walk and hit by pitch.

- Dom Thompson-Williams hit leadoff for the third straight game.

- Marcus Mooney returned to the starting lineup after missing Sunday’s game with a tender hamstring. Also, Danny Blair got his third start of the season and went 2-for-5 with a double and an RBI.

- Five newcomers started and six would eventually play in the field. The six combined to hit 14-for-22 with two RBIs, three runs scored, four walks and a hit by pitch.

- Adam Hill earned his second win of the season Tuesday, pitching five scoreless innings while striking out eight. He has given up five hits and no runs in 11 innings while striking out 19.

- DC Arendas was taken out of the game in the fifth inning and was replaced by LT Tolbert. Holbrook said it was due to a contact issue. He said Arendas had new contacts that made things “fuzzy” during the game.

- Cullen caught a runner stealing in the third inning, making it his third batter caught stealing in two games.

- After committing at least one error in four straight games, the Gamecocks were errorless Tuesday night.

- Tyler Johnson gave up three RBIs in .1 IP, the most RBIs given up by a Gamecock pitcher all season.

- The Gamecocks left 16 runners on base, including leaving the bases loaded twice. This brings their season total to 92 batters left on base, roughly 10 per game.

- Holbrook said he doesn’t know who his closer is yet. Reagan got his third save of the season Wednesday, but Holbrook said the coaches feel comfortable with Reed Scott and Brandon Murray as well.

- Holbrook said he doesn’t expect Hill to start Sunday against Clemson, saying he likes where the freshman is in the rotation. He did say, however, if the coaches feel like Hill would be better in a weekend role, they’ll put him there.

- The Gamecocks begin their series with Clemson Friday night at 7 p.m. at Founders Park. It will be televised on SEC Network+. Sophomore righty Clarke Schmidt is the projected starter.

Quotes

Hill on his confidence: “I’m not trying to get too high, too low. I’m just trying to do the same thing; just go out there, work as hard as I can and do what I need to do to help my team win.”

Hill on if he’ll be ready if needed for Clemson: “Absolutely. I’ll pitch whenever coaches tell me to pitch and do whatever. Whenever they want me to pitch, I’ll throw.”

Hill on the impact of young players: “It says a lot about how mature our young guys are…But when it comes down to it, it’s just the game we’ve been playing since we were young. It’s been a lot of fun.”

Holbrook on Hill: “He’s got a bright future here for sure. He’s been very impressive through two outings.”

Holbrook on the win: “It’s always difficult to win here. Like I’ve said before, we’ve come down here with a national championship team and lost. So we’ll enjoy it on the bus ride home and get ready for a big weekend.”

Holbrook on playing the first road game: “It’s good for us to play in a different venue before we go on the road this weekend. It might help a little bit with their confidence, but we’re going to play and awfully good team this weekend. It’s a great game for college baseball and we’re all lucky to be a part of it.”

Holbrook on runners left on base: “We probably had a lot of opportunities to spread it out and we didn’t do it, but that’s credit to their pitchers. But the guys are swinging the bat good.”

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