Pitching depth showcased as Gamecocks win regional

After two games in the Columbia Regional, the Gamecock bullpen was in serious need of some help from a few different guys.

Neither starting pitcher—Clarke Schmidt nor Braden Webb—lasted longer than four innings and four different bullpen arms had to throw a combined 11 innings and 138 pitches through two games.

After those two games, South Carolina still needed three wins in two days to advance. That meant big performances from starting pitchers and quick work from the bullpen.

And that’s exactly what the team got. In the next two games Gamecock starters lasted at least seven innings and the bullpen only had to throw one arm, Tyler Haswell. Haswell threw two innings and just 31 pitches.

In a season where the bullpen has bailed starting pitching out of jams during SEC play, the roles reversed in the regional as starting pitching began to take the pressure off of the bullpen.

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“We’ve had depth all year, we just displayed it this weekend,” Josh Reagan said. “The pitching depth has been with us all season long and has gotten us to this point. It doesn’t matter. You saw Clarke, you saw Braden. They hadn’t come out of the pen all year but came out and threw strikes and we won the game.”

The added rest would propel the Gamecocks to a game seven against UNCW and eventually a 10-5 win Tuesday to clinch the regional.

In Tuesday’s game two pitchers who had already thrown at least 48 pitches in the regional, power arm Taylor Widener and setup man Josh Reagan, came out and combined for seven innings and just four earned runs. Josh Reagan wound up with the win.

“It’s hard to see 96 and then have a guy come in there throwing 75 mph changeups. It’s hard,” head coach Chad Holbrook said. “And it gave them a totally different look. And it worked perfect.”

Schmidt and Webb would both throw relief innings against the Seahawks Tuesday, essentially shutting down the heart of the order in the eighth and ninth innings to secure the win.

The dominant performance from the two starters turned relievers saved one of the Gamecocks’ best arms in Reed Scott who only threw seven pitches over the weekend.

After Saturday’s elimination game against Duke, the Gamecock bullpen only threw 109 pitches over the course of seven innings.

Holbrook said the weekend rotation is still up in the air with the Gamecocks not playing until Saturday, but with the depth of pitching South Carolina has, it wouldn’t be uncommon to see talented arms in the bullpen, waiting their turn to make an impact on the game.

“It’s very rare to see 95, 96, 97 miles an hour,” Holbrook said. “It’s hard to hit. We have a few power guys and it takes a lot of pressure off your defense when they’re playing well.”

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