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Gamecocks ride pitching, defense and small ball to win over Upstate

Getting a few bunts down in key situations helped the Gamecocks on Wednesday
Getting a few bunts down in key situations helped the Gamecocks on Wednesday
Chris Gillespie, Gamecock Central

South Carolina-USC Upstate Photo Gallery By Chris Gillespie

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South Carolina-USC Upstate Box Score

Better late than never for the South Carolina offense.

After a slow start at the plate, the Gamecocks scored three runs in their final two at-bats and rode strong pitching (3 hits allowed by four hurlers) and flawless defense (no errors) to a 4-1 nonconference victory over USC Upstate Wednesday night at Founders Park.

The Gamecocks improved to 35-9 overall and now head to Lexington, Ky. for a pivotal 3-game SEC series against Kentucky beginning Friday at 6:30 p.m.

“We pitched, played defense and struggled offensively,” USC coach Chad Holbrook said. “It was a good win heading into a very difficult and challenging weekend at Kentucky.”

Gene Cone extended his hitting streak to 30 games with a fifth-inning single. The junior from Spring Valley has now reached base in 33 straight games.

The Gamecocks snapped a 1-1 tie with fundamentally sound baseball in the bottom of the seventh inning. After Chris Cullen led off with a walk, pinch-runner T.J. Hopkins advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt and to third on a passed ball.

Marcus Mooney laid down a perfectly placed suicide bunt to the right side of the pitcher’s mound, allowing Hopkins to cross home plate with the go-ahead (and eventual game-winning) run.

For Mooney (only Gamecock player with multiple hits), the successful squeeze bunt made up for a couple of failed bunts last weekend against Florida.

“He has to be able to handle any situation we throw at him,” Holbrook said. “I feel comfortable knowing that when we call for a suicide squeeze, safety squeeze, hit and run or sacrifice bunt, he can handle it. He is a very fundamentally sound player. It was good to see him get that bunt down. It turned into a hit and RBI for him. He can handle the bat very well. He has gotten a lot of bunt hits in his career here. He hasn’t bunted very well this year, but that was a big bunt for us.”

USC added two key runs in the bottom of the eighth when Madison Stokes singled off the glove of the UPS shortstop with the bases loaded, scoring Dom Thompson-Williams and pinch-runner Danny Blair.

Upstate intentionally walked John Jones to load the bases for Stokes, but the sophomore from Columbia (AC Flora High) hit a sharp grounder towards the hole. The Upstate shortstop got a glove on it, but the ball deflected into short left field allowing two runs to score.

“It was good to see Madison get a hit there because those submariners are not easy to hit,” Holbrook said. “After being out in front on the first pitch, he adjusted. It’s always good to see hitters make adjustments within the at-bat. It was a big hit for us and enabled us to win the game.”

Three Gamecocks relievers (Taylor Widener, Reed Scott and Tyler Johnson) held Upstate hitless over the final 5.2 innings following starter Brandon Murray’s exit with one out in the top of the fourth after facing 12 batters and allowing three hits with two strikeouts.

Murray matched his longest stint of the season, a 3.1 inning relief appearance at USC Upstate (Fluor Field) on March 15. It marked the first time he had pitched more than one inning since March 29.

“We gave the ball to (Murray) because we feel he is important to our team,” Holbrook said. “I hope it puts him in a good spot mentally. He can give our team a lot when we hopefully get into tournament play. He has a good arm and he has been throwing well.

“His velocity is up and his bullpens have been great. He just hasn’t thrown his off-speed pitches for strikes and tonight he threw a lot of changeups in there. His breaking ball was better, but still inconsistent. His command was much better. He gave us a good start.”

The game began inauspiciously for the Gamecock offense as five of the first six USC hitters against Upstate starter Cody Brittain struckout looking. Meanwhile, Murray started his outing (1st start of the season) by retiring the first six UPS batters. Thus, there was very little offense to speak of in the first two innings.

“We started competing a little better in the middle of the game and found ways to move the baseball and get some bunts down,” Holbrook said. “We did enough offensively to win, but the story of the game was how we pitched and played defense.”

The Gamecocks finally snapped the scoreless deadlock in the bottom of the third with two walks, a wild pitch and error by the Spartans first baseman. Upstate tied the score in the top of the fourth on a leadoff double, groundout and RBI single.

Widener replaced Murray on the mound after the run-scoring hit and proceeded to retire 11 of the 12 batters he faced over 3.2 innings. He needed just 48 pitches to get 11 outs.

“Widener was as sharp as he has been all year long,” Holbrook said. “That bodes well for us, especially in the bullpen during league play, to have another guy out there throwing as well as he threw.”

The Gamecocks wasted scoring opportunities in the fourth and five innings as the contest remained tied at 1-1 entering the latter stages.

“We didn’t capitalize on a couple of chances,” Holbrook said. “We just couldn’t push a run across. But we stayed in the game and realized it was important. We found a way to execute in the seventh and then Madison had the big hit in the eighth that gave us some breathing room.”

USC has runners on first and second with one out in the fourth but a 5-3 double play (tagged the runner and threw to first) ended the threat. In the fifth, the Gamecocks had runners at first and third with one out, but Thompson-Williams struckout and Alex Destino popped out to end the inning.

After Reed Scott got all three outs in the eighth, the hard-throwing Johnson pitched a perfect ninth, needing just six pitches for his fifth save of the season.

“We played pretty well tonight, especially with how we pitched and played defense,” Holbrook said. “It was good to see Brandon Murray throw the ball pretty well. The more experience we give Tyler getting the final three outs is good for our team. Now we have two options at the end of the games in Tyler and Josh (Reagan).”

LINESCORE

UPS (18-24) – 000 010 000 = 1-3-1

USC (35-9) – 001 000 12x = 4-7-0

WP – Taylor Widener (2-2)

LP – Cody Brittain (2-1)

SV – Tyler Johnson (5)

HR – None

RBI – Madison Stokes (2), Gene Cone (1), Marcus Mooney (1)

LOB – USC 7, UPS 1

A – 7,010 (Paid)

Time – 2:29

Gamecock Pitchers: Brandon Murray (3.1, 39 pitches), Taylor Widener (3.2, 48 pitches), Reed Scott (1.0, 5 pitches), Tyler Johnson (1.0, 6 pitches).

HOW THE RUNS SCORED:

USC 3rd – Cullen popped to short, Tolbert walked, Mooney walked, Mooney advanced to second and Tolbert advanced to third on wild pitch, Cone reached on fielding error (E3)(run scored)(RBI), DTW struckout, Destino struckout. 1 Run, 0 Hits (USC 1-0)

UPS 4th – Shimko doubled to right-center, Fickas grounded to pitcher, Fowlkes singled to left (RBI), (Widener for Murray>, Brittain reached on fielder's choice (5-4), Ford struckout. 1 Run, 2 Hits (Tied 1-1).

USC 7th – Cullen walked (Hopkins pinch ran for Cullen), Tolbert sacrificed (1-3), Hopkins advanced to third on passed ball, Mooney singled on bunt (RBI), Cone popped to third, Mooney picked off, out at second(1-3-6). 1 RUN, 1 HIT (USC 2-1).

USC 8th - DTW singled to second, Destino singled up the middle (Blair pinch ran for Destino), Bride sacrificed (U-1), Jones intentionally walked, Stokes singled to left (2 RBI), Scolamiero pinch ran for Jones, Taylor flied to right, Stokes stole second, Tolbert grounded to pitcher. 2 RUNS, 3 HITS (USC 4-1).

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