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South Carolina uses clutch hitting, stellar bullpen to beat Tide 6-4

Reed Scott improves to 4-1 this season after pitching 2.1 scoreless innings.
Reed Scott improves to 4-1 this season after pitching 2.1 scoreless innings.
Chris Gillespie/GamecockCentral.com

Box Score | 15 Things

Tuscaloosa, Ala.—South Carolina watched as its four-run lead was erased in the fifth inning. With runners on first and second, two outs, the Gamecocks needed a spark.

Enter Reed Scott.

After a Jekyll-and-Hyde performance from starting pitcher Clarke Schmidt that saw six Alabama hits and six Alabama strikeouts, Scott came in and mowed through the Crimson Tide lineup as the Gamecocks took game one, 6-4.

Scott would pitch 2.1 shutout relief innings, giving up only three hits and one walk while striking out three batters. He gave the Gamecocks (40-13, 18-9 SEC) a spark in a tight game.

“We could have easily pouted and it went South,” head coach Chad Holbrook said. “We didn’t have a full bullpen tonight because Reagan’s only going to throw a hitter or two because he threw eighty pitches on Sunday. Getting Clarke out of the game early, that put us in a pickle. But Reed picked us up.”

Scott picked up his fourth win of the season after coming in for Schmidt, who threw 100 pitches in 4.2 innings. It was his shortest outing of the season.

“Even All-Americans have off nights,” Scott said. “That’s just what happened tonight. His stuff wasn’t sharp, but he played damage control and kept it at four runs. Coming in early, I knew I had to pitch longer.”

The run support would come for Scott in the very next inning.

Shortstop Marcus Mooney would come up with two outs and two runners in scoring position. The senior would lace a single into left field plating two and giving the away team a 6-4 lead it wouldn’t look back from.

Mooney finished 2-for-4 and the Gamecocks would hit 4-for-16 (.250) with runners in scoring position Thursday.

“We’ve been struggling with runners in scoring position,” Mooney said, “so I was just trying to put the barrel on the ball and I know when I do that it has a better chance to find the hole.”

Sophomore Madison Stokes started his second straight game at first base. He would finish 3-for-3 with two runs scored. He also had 10 putouts.

Stokes scored in the fifth inning on a Gene Cone bunt and would take home when he saw no Tide fielder was covering home plate. He said the call was from Coach Sammy Esposito, and the coaches wanted players to push the tempo on base.

“They like for us to be aggressive and I think it’s very important for us to be aggressive on the base path because that could be the difference in the game,” Stokes said.

South Carolina notches its 40th win this season, marking the 16th time in 17 years years the Gamecocks have reached the 40-win mark.

After winning 32 games last season, this season is also the highest increase in wins since the team went from 40 to 54 wins between 2009 and 2010. For Holbrook this was a big night.

After the game he said Thursday’s win could be “as big a win we’ve had all season,” saying the way the team battled through adversity could payoff well down the stretch. Now, after winning 40 games, they go for No. 41 tomorrow (Friday).

“(It has) A lot of meaning. I’m awfully proud of our team and our players. If you win forty games in the regular season, you ask any coach they’ll tell you what type of accomplishment that is,” Holbrook said. “We’ll savor it for about an hour while we eat and enjoy the bus ride back to the hotel. But hopefully we’ll get geared back up ready to go for a big one tomorrow.”

Thursday’s win marks the third straight road series South Carolina has won the opening game. The other two, Georgia and Kentucky, the Gamecocks would lose the next two and drop the series.

Mooney didn’t mince words about what he thinks will happen Friday and Saturday.

“Yeah, that’s not going to happen again this weekend,” he said. “We know we’ve done that in the past and we’re going to step it up this weekend. That’s not going to happen.”

First pitch for game two is 8 p.m. EST. Braden Webb (9-4, 3.48 ERA) will face Alabama’s Jake Walters (5-3, 2.03 ERA).

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