Hill continues to shine as Gamecocks complete sweep
South Carolina (15-2) freshman Adam Hill pitched 5.1 scoreless innings to earn the win -- and the Gamecocks' bullpen finished the shutout -- as South Carolina completed a three-game sweep of Charleston Southern with a 2-0 victory Sunday afternoon at Founders Park.
"Charleston Southern played extremely well, extremely hard... " Holbrook said. "I'm happy with my team. We could have executed a little better in a couple of spots offensively, we hit some balls on the nose that were caught. But we played great defense. Matt (Williams) had a big swing of the bat there that gave us some separation.
"We didn't do great offensively, but we did enough and I think we swung the bats a little bit better than what the stat-line indicates. That being said, it was a hard fought last two games and we were lucky and fortunate to come out on top. I feel good about the way my team played."
*** ALSO SEE: USC-CSU Game 3 Photo Gallery by Chris Gillespie
Hill (4-0), who allowed just four hits and a walk, struck out eight in his first weekend start after beginning his career 3-0 as a weekday starter.
"I felt really good," Hill said. "I recovered well from Tuesday. My arm felt great. I was ready to just go out there and get ahead of hitters. They got a few hits, but I was able to work through it, and we were able to come out with a win."
Runs were tough to come by for both teams as Charleston Southern starter Jon Piriz allowed just two fourth-inning runs despite taking the loss.
Freshman right fielder TJ Hopkins put the Gamecocks up 1-0 with a sacrifice fly in the fourth. Dom Thompson-Williams led off the inning with a double before moving up to third on an LT Tolbert flyout.
After Hopkins' RBI, second baseman Matt Williams, making his first start of the season, blasted a no-doubter over the right field wall giving him his first career homer and the Gamecocks a 2-0 lead.
"I'm thankful for the opportunity coach gave me," Williams said. "Hopefully more will come in the future. But it felt great, obviously. It put a smile on my face and a lot of the team's face. It was a good opportunity coach gave me."
CSU only truly threatened when it loaded the bases in the sixth, but Tyler Johnson induced a 6-4-3 double play to end the threat.
"I gave (Johnson) a big ole hug," Hill said. "I was thankful for that one. I was glad to see it."
Johnson allowed just a hit and struck out one in his 1.2 innings of work. Josh Reagan earned his sixth save of the season with 2.0 shutout inning and allowed two hits.
South Carolina returns to action Tuesday at 7 p.m. when it travels to Fluor Field to take on USC Upstate.
LINESCORE
CSU 000 000 000 = 0-7-0
USC 000 200 000 = 2-6-0
WP – Adam Hill (4-0)
LP – Jon Piriz (0-2)
SV – Josh Reagan (6)
HR – USC, Matt Williams (1)
LOB – CSU - 8, USC -7.
A –6,643
Time: 2:11
HOW THE RUNS SCORED:
USC 4th – Thompson-Williams doubled, Tolbert flied out to center, Hopkins sacrifice flied to right (RBI), Williams homered to right (RBI), Blair popped out to SS. TWO RUNS, TWO HITS (2-0 USC).
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