Freshman pitcher John Gilreath did not disappoint in his first career start Tuesday, helping the South Carolina baseball team get the 5-2 win over North Florida.
Gilreath made his first appearance in garnet and black on Friday and pitched four scoreless innings of relief. That showing made head coach Mark Kingston feel confident that he would succeed as a midweek starter.
Gilreath allowed a leadoff double on just the second pitch he threw, but he did not allow a hit after that. He only walked one batter and struck out four during the four innings he pitched — a performance that pleased Kingston.
"The plan was more of a pitch count than it was innings. I mean 50-60 pitches was about what we wanted, 50 we thought would be perfect and he was right at 52," Kingston said. "Two baserunners in four innings, once again, gotta tip your cap to that kid."
TJ Hopkins, who went 3-for-5 with an RBI double down the left field line, had a lot of praise for his teammate. Hopkins said he faced Gilreath multiple times during preseason scrimmages and could easily see how talented the pitcher is.
"He got the best of me just about every time," Hopkins said. "He's just got a little presence about him. He walks around like he's the man which, I mean, he should. That's how every pitcher in my mind should walk around."
A big problem for the Gamecocks over the weekend was leaving too many men on base. The Gamecocks stranded 10 batters on base Tuesday, which while imperfect is a step in the right direction in the team's view.
"Well, that's better ... in our hitters' defense, three of those 10 were a rocket shot hit by Olson deep into left field that the left fielder made a tremendous catch on," Kingston said. "I thought our bats tonight with runners in scoring position were better, our strikeouts were down, we only had five tonight, and we had four walks, so our strikeout-to-walk ratio was good offensively, so I saw progress."
South Carolina (3-1) will look to continue and improve on its early success as the team hosts Winthrop on Wednesday. First pitch is set for 4 p.m. at Founders Park.