After a 20-run outburst on Opening Day, one might think that the Gamecocks would need to win in a different manner on Saturday. Noah Hall, the only senior in the starting rotation, pitched well enough that Carolina could have won a pitcher’s duel. Hall was brilliant into the sixth inning of work on Saturday, putting the South Carolina baseball team in an excellent position to beat the UMass-Lowell River Hawks for the second day in a row. The lineup remained the same for the Gamecocks (why change it after scoring 20 runs?), and the results were largely the same, as well.
The scoring started early as Gerry Siracusa, Preseason Player of the Year in the America East Conference, doubled home a run in the first off of Hall. River Hawk freshman Brian Foley took the hill in the bottom half of the inning and promptly gave the lead back on a bases-loaded single from Talmadge Lecroy. The YardCocks followed up those two runs by reloading the bases but failed to cash in on the runners in scoring position.
Hall bounced back with a perfect second and third, and his offense spotted him five extra runs of support in the second when Caleb Denny hit an absolute blast to right field for his first Gamecock dinger. Two more runs scored on an outfield error. To finish Hall’s perfect top of the third, Evan Stone did what Evan Stone does: he made a fantastic diving catch in shallow center to rob Robert Galagher of a hit.
Poor defense from UMass-Lowell gifted South Carolina with two more runs in the third, and Hall continued his nice work through the fourth, only adding a hit batsman. After going 5-5 in the first game of the series, Braylen Wimmer added a monster grand slam in the fourth inning to extend the lead to 13-1. Gavin Casas (3-run) and Will McGillis (solo) hit back-to-back homers in the fifth to swell the lead to 17-1. McGillis retook the solo lead for team home runs with his third swat through two games.
Noah Hall cruised through five and was replaced in the sixth by lefty Trey Wheeler who finished the inning. 2-way player Chris Veach pitched a scoreless seventh, Tommy John-returnee Jackson Phipps repeated the feat in the eighth, and Brett Thomas finished the game in 1-2-3 fashion. In the second straight blowout, many of the same reserve players who saw time in yesterday’s game came in to play in today’s contest.
Games 1 and 2 belonged to the Gamecocks as they mercilessly clipped the wings of the River Hawks by a combined 37-4 score.
The Gamecocks will go for the sweep on Sunday at Founder’s Park with first pitch scheduled for 1:30 EST.