15 Things: Florida Game 2
Leading off
--Hunter Taylor got his third start of the season at catcher. He replaced a sick Chris Cullen and a slumping John Jones. Taylor was replaced by Jones in the sixth inning. Head coach Chad Holbrook said Cullen is battling an upper respiratory illness and some dehydration from Friday’s game. He said Cullen would be ready to go tomorrow.
--South Carolina evens the series with Florida and moves into sole possession of first place in the SEC before tomorrow’s rubber match. The team is now 8-0 when wearing white jerseys with black trim.
--Braden Webb earned his ninth win of the season. The win ties him for the most wins in the NCAA with BYU’s Michael Rucker.
--Saturday’s attendance was 8,242. It was the fourth sellout of the year.
--Gene Cone extended his hitting streak to 29 games with a leadoff double in the first inning. His streak is tied for the longest in Division I baseball this season. He also went into the right field wall diving for a foul ball. He would remain in the game and said he’ll be fine for Sunday.
On deck
--South Carolina’s Braden Webb was dominant against a top-notch Florida team. He only allowed one run to a stacked Gator team. The top third of the order went 1-for-12 with no runs and no RBIs.
--Dom Thompson-Williams bagged his team-leading 13th double of the season. He would eventually come around to score in the inning on a LT Tolbert RBI single.
--Gamecock batters struck out 14 times Saturday. Dom Thompson-Williams struck out a game-high three times. TJ Hopkins, Alex Destino, Jonah Bride and Hunter Taylor each struck out twice.
--Tyler Johnson picked up his fourth save of the season while striking out three batters. He hit 93 and 94 miles per hour consistently and finished the game with a strikeout with the tying run on third base.
--Both of South Carolina’s runs came with two outs. The team hit 3-for-11 (.273) with two outs Saturday, including Tolbert’s RBI single and Cone’s go-ahead home run.
Batting cleanup
Tyler Johnson on pitching the ninth inning: “Coach’s message to me was locate my pitches in the right spot or else they were going to make me pay for it. I knew I was going out there probably the first or second out. Coach Meyers told me to go out there and get it.”
DTW on the atmosphere: “The fans, thank you so much to the fans. They’re picking it up. So thank you.”
DTW on Gene Cone’s diving catch: “When he hit the wall and hit the ground I was just saying to myself, ‘Gene, get up. C’mon get up.’ We need him; he’s a big part of our team and tonight he was a huge part of our team.”
Braden Webb on his confidence of this team: “I don’t think there’s any team in the country we can’t compete with. Florida’s a great team; hats off to them for winning last night’s game and coming out and battling tonight…But I have the utmost confidence in this team.”
Gene Cone on the win: “This was huge. This was easily our biggest win of the season. Hopefully we just keep this momentum we got today and take it into tomorrow and the rest of the season.”
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