Gamecock junior catcher Wes Clarke continued to look phenomenal at the plate Tuesday afternoon, hitting three home runs in No. 16 South Carolina's 12-4 win over the Winthrop Eagles.
Following a weekend in which it scored 29 runs in three games against the Dayton Flyers, the South Carolina offense continued to show impressive form against Winthrop with 12 runs on 15 hits, seven of which were home runs. For the third time in their first four games of 2021, the Gamecocks registered in the double digits for both runs and hits.
Of Tuesday's seven Gamecock home runs, four came in the eighth inning off the bats of sophomore infielder Braylen Wimmer, Clarke, junior first baseman David Mendham and junior designated hitter Josiah Sightler.
Six South Carolina batters compiled multi-hit games, of whom four tacked on multi-RBI performances.
"Well, we have good hitters, we have a good hitting coach and they've all developed in a really nice way," head coach Mark Kingston said. "Again, it's not going to call them the '27 Yankees yet, but it's just a group that is developing and doing things that we think they are capable of."
Three-hole hitter Clarke has crushed the baseball in this season's opening four games, hitting six homers and driving in 12 runs while batting .769. Tuesday, he became the first Gamecock to hit three home runs in a game since 2008, when first baseman and future MLB All-Star Justin Smoak accomplished the feat against USC Upstate.
After hitting eight home runs in 16 games before the pandemic emerged last spring, Clarke's potential as a power hitter is finally being realized in 2021.
"I think for me, personally, my swing is really short and petite, here lately," Clarke said. "We worked really hard as a team on two-strike approach, and that's really paid dividends to our success as a whole lineup — if you can hit off-speed and fastballs, you're going to have a lot of success."
On the mound, freshman right-hander Will Sanders made his first career start for the Gamecocks, making it through 2.2 scoreless innings while striking out six. While he had a short leash, Sanders looked solid on the mound, topping out at 96 miles per hour.
With Sanders having a pitch limit, according to Kingston, the South Carolina bullpen was used significantly Tuesday, as seven relief pitchers made an appearance. Overall, they combined to allow two earned runs on five hits while striking out 11.
Kingston said he wants "to have everybody available for the weekend if we can," which was his reasoning for using his bullpen in "small doses."
What's next?
South Carolina travels to Doug Kingsmore Stadium in Clemson on Friday to begin its annual away-neutral-home series with the Clemson Tigers. In the opening matchup, junior right-hander Thomas Farr (1-0, 1.5 ERA) is scheduled to start on the mound for the Gamecocks. Television coverage begins at 4 p.m. on ACC Network Extra.