South Carolina Baseball: Series Sweep over Penn Keeps Gamecocks Undefeated
By Kevin Miller
After a dominant mid-week that saw the South Carolina baseball team defeat Winthrop 19-3 and Queens 12-0, a good Penn Quakers team made the trip south this weekend for their first action of the season. The three-game series saw the Gamecocks’ double-digit scoring streak end, but three victories were earned nonetheless.
In game 1, Will Sanders pitched five shutout innings of six-strikeout baseball before the bullpen and some shaky defense almost blew a 5-0 lead. Ethan Petry and Cole Messina each hit their fourth home run of the season, and Caleb Denny had three hits and three RBI to carry the way offensively. 2-way player Chris Veach earned the save, pitching 1 and 1/3 innings of scoreless ball to close things out.
Game 2’s runs were at a premium. Noah Hall was flat-out dominant on the hill, shutting down the Quakers over eight innings for 12 strikeouts, 0 walks, and just 3 hits. The only scoring in the game came off the bat of Ethan Petry, as the true freshman hit his team-leading fifth homer of the season in his first at-bat of the day. 1-0 was the final tally after Matthew Becker got the save.
In the series finale, Jack Mahoney was very good through five innings, but the wheels started to come off in the sixth. Eli Jerzembeck came in but couldn’t keep his inherited runners from scoring. He settled in and pitched into the eighth when Austin Williamson came in and got the last out of the frame. Williamson was the good luck winner as his offense hit back-to-back bombs in the bottom of the eighth (Gavin Casas and Will McGillis) to pull ahead for good. Chris Veach picked up his second save of the series to clinch the sweep.
Despite not scoring an insane amount of runs over the weekend, the Gamecocks still lead the nation in scoring runs (94) and hitting home runs (26), and the pitching staff has only allowed ten extra-base hits and 43 total hits through 72 innings during this 8-0 start.
Next week, the YardCocks will play North Carolina A&T on Tuesday before beginning the annual rivalry series with the Clemson Tigers (4-3 and coming off of getting swept at home by UCF). The first game of the series will be in Clemson, the second will be at Fluor Field in downtown Greenville, and the series finale will be at Founder’s Park in Columbia.