South Carolina baseball: Gamecocks push past Citadel in Charleston
By Jacob Elsey
South Carolina baseball defeated The Citadel 11-7 Wednesday night.
The South Carolina baseball team travelled to Charleston Wednesday night for its first of four consecutive road matchups. Facing a Citadel team that entered the game at 4-6, the Gamecocks found themselves in a tight battle with their instate foe.
The South Carolina pitching staff struggled a bit, allowing seven runs and 13 hits to the Bulldog bats. The Citadel came into the contest hitting .295 as a team, and that high powered offense was able to make the Gamecocks sweat for the majority of the game.
The Bulldogs jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning, leading off the frame with three straight hits against South Carolina starter Josiah Sightler.
The Gamecocks bounced back to take the lead in the third, when Sightler stroked a two-out double to left center in a four-run inning.
The two teams traded blows in the fourth, before The Citadel regained the lead in the bottom of the sixth on a Cole Simpson two-run homer. Tony Skole’s team would hold that lead for one more frame, but a six-run eighth inning would give the Gamecocks an 11-6 advantage, and eventually end the Bulldogs’ chances of an upset.
The Gamecocks erupt for six runs in the eighth to move to 11-0 on the year! #Gamecocks | #ForeverToThee pic.twitter.com/MnG89gqnn7
— Gamecock Baseball (@GamecockBasebll) March 11, 2021
Reliever Andrew Peters picked up his second victory of the year, while Citadel pitcher Logan Barker took the loss to fall to 0-2 on the season.
PLAYERS OF THE GAME
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Jeffrey Brown CF
For The Citadel, it was lead off man Jeffrey Brown. The center fielder went 5-for-5 from the plate, scoring three runs, and belting his first career home run. He also added a triple, and is now batting an absurd .465 on the season.
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Josiah Sightler P
For the Gamecocks, it was starting pitcher Josiah Sightler. Sightler allowed the first three Bulldogs to reach base, but shored things up after that, retiring five of his final six batters over two innings of work. He also did it with the stick, racking up two hits and four RBIs to help the Gamecocks secure the win.
WHAT’S NEXT?
The Gamecocks will once again put their perfect record on the line, as the team travels to Austin to take on No. 19 Texas in a three-game series. It’s the first time the two programs have met since the 2002 College World Series championship game.