The South Carolina baseball team used late offense to defeat Presbyterian 11-1 on Tuesday night at Founders Park, ending its seven-game losing streak.
Gamecocks' pitchers held the Blue Hose to one run and six hits while posting eight strikeouts. All five pitchers who appeared recorded a strikeout, including junior pitcher Jackson Soucie, who earned his second win of the season on Tuesday.
"Some really good clutch hits and balls hit hard with runners in scoring position," head coach Paul Mainieri said. "It was a shame that the game ended the way it did, got ugly there at the end. Up until then, there was a lot of good stuff and some good pitching."
Presbyterian scored its only run of the game in the third inning when Soucie walked two-straight batters with one out, then redshirt sophomore outfielder Amman Dewberry hit an RBI-single.
The Gamecocks responded in the bottom of the inning when junior outfielder Ethan Petry hit a two-run home run, giving the Gamecocks a 2-1 lead.
The Blue Hose threatened to tie the game after a pair of singles in the fifth. With two outs, junior infielder Henry Kaczmar made a diving stop up the middle, then flipped to senior infielder Jordan Carrion to end the inning.
South Carolina extended its lead to 5-1 in the sixth. Petry and freshman infielder K.J. Scobey opened the inning with back-to-back singles. Freshman infielder Beau Hollins then sacrifice bunted, moving both runners into scoring position. Freshman catcher Gavin Braland later scored both runners with a two-out double. Braland later scored when junior fielder Jase Woita walked with the bases loaded, adding another run.
"Gavin Braland came through with a big two-run single, I think which was really the key at-bat of the night," Mainieri said.
The Gamecocks scored four more runs in the seventh to run-rule Presbyterian. The Gamecocks loaded the bases after two free passes by junior pitcher Robbie Boykin and a bunt-single by Carrion. Woita later hit a fly ball that freshman infielder Matthew Rollison dropped, scoring two runs. Junior outfielder Nathan Hall then reached on a throwing error to first base, scoring two more runs and ending the contest.
"At the end of the day, it's just I'm trying to do as much as I can to help my team win," Hall said. "It felt good that we could open it up a little bit."
Late offense lifts Gamecocks
South Carolina scored nine runs over the sixth and seventh innings. Petry went 2-2 with two RBIs and a pair of walks, while Hall finished 2-4 with two RBIs. Three of the Gamecocks' nine hits came from freshmen, including Braland, who went 1-3 with two RBIs.
"We hit some balls hard," Mainieri said. "Carrion hit that ball really hard right at the right fielder with a runner on second. Kaczmar hit a couple of balls really hard, I think one of them was with a runner in scoring position. Hopefully we're going to get that aspect of our team going."
Pitching limits Blue Hose
Sophomore pitcher Tyler Pitzer started for the Gamecocks, giving up no runs or hits while adding a strikeout. Soucie, sophomore pitcher Parker Marlatt and junior pitcher Brendan Sweeney all recorded multiple strikeouts. Neither Marlatt nor Sweeney gave up a hit in the final two innings of Tuesday's matchup.
"The way Sweeney threw tonight and the way he threw on Sunday, very positive for us," Mainieri said.
Losing streak snapped
Tuesday's win over the Blue Hose snapped a seven-game losing streak for the Gamecocks, dating back to a 4-3 win over the College of Charleston on March 18. All seven losses came against teams ranked in the top 25, including No. 3 Arkansas, No. 21 North Carolina and No. 1 Tennessee.
"Arkansas and Tennessee certainly were, in my opinion, two, if not the very best two, teams in the country," Mainieri said. "North Carolina in between there. About half the games, we were really competitive, had a chance to win and just didn't do enough to win the games. It's one of those learning lessons."
What's next?
South Carolina (18-12, 1-8 SEC) returns to conference play this weekend when it travels to face Mississippi State (17-12, 1-8 SEC). First pitch on Friday is set for 7 p.m., and the game will be streamed on SEC Network+.