South Carolina baseball: Gamecocks sweep Mercer to stay unbeaten
By Jacob Elsey
The South Carolina baseball team moved to 10-0 on the season.
South Carolina used fantastic pitching and timely hitting to sweep the Mercer Bears and extend their season long winning streak to 10 games. The Gamecocks took down the Bears 5-1, 4-0, and 1-0 in consecutive matchups, holding their opponent to just 12 hits over the entire weekend and allowing the Bears to cross the plate just once in three contests.
Thomas Farr got the win on Friday, surrendering one run over 5.1 innings of work. The South Carolina bullpen then finished up the night with 3.2 innings of no-hit baseball. Andrew Eyster and Braylen Wimmer were the stars on offense, combining for three hits, three runs, and three runs batting in.
The arms picked up right where they left off on Saturday, as Brannon Jordan struck out 11 Mercer batters over five innings of scoreless pitching to earn his first win of the year. Gamecock pitchers combined for 17 strikeouts and allowed just seven baserunners on the day. Joe Satterfield, David Mendham, and Josiah Sighter did the damage on offense, knocking in the four South Carolina runs.
And it was more of the same on Sunday, as the Gamecocks allowed just two hits in another shutout. Starter Julian Bosnic took a no-hitter into the sixth inning before being pulled. Brett Kerry picked up the save with a three-strikeout performance in the game’s final frame.
Overall, the team has to be pleased with a pitching staff that struck out 44 batters in the three-game series. Offense was down a bit from the production it’s seen over the season’s first three weeks, but it’s always nice to see a team grind it out with three close, low-scoring victories. The pitching staff will be extremely important as the team heads into conference play in just a couple of short weeks.
With the sweep, Mark Kingston’s group moves up to No. 12 in the latest Baseball America poll. South Carolina will look to stay hot this week with four straight road matchups. The Gamecocks play The Citadel in Charleston on Wednesday, before travelling to Austin to take on the 20th-ranked Texas Longhorns in a three-game series.