The Daily Gamecock

Row, Taylor homer to lift Gamecocks past Davidson, snap losing streak

The South Carolina baseball team entered Tuesday's contest against Davidson on a five-game losing streak and did not have Noah Campbell, TJ Hopkins and Madison Stokes because of injuries. Despite all of the challenges and a very different lineup, the Gamecocks were able to hold on to a late one-run lead and get the 5-4 win. 

With the usual top of the lineup sitting this one out, Justin Row found himself starting at second and hitting fifth, and he made the most of his opportunity. He would finish the game 3-for-3 with two walks, two RBIs and was a triple shy from hitting for the cycle. He hit a monster two-run home run in the sixth inning, which gave the Gamecocks a lead they were able to run away with. 

The home run was Row's third of the season and gave South Carolina the late confidence it needed to finish the game. After the game, head coach Mark Kingston credited Row for being a big factor in why the Gamecocks were finally able to find some success at home. 

"If he doesn’t play like he did tonight, we don’t win the game," Kingston said. "He’s a guy that will continue to play even probably when all our guys get healthy again. That’s a guy we’ll probably have in the lineup on a fairly consistent basis. He’s a winner.”

Hunter Taylor also found his swing at the plate, sending a solo shot deep to left field for his fifth home run of the year. Taylor's home run came during the fifth inning, giving the Gamecocks some solid hitting during the middle of the game. 

While the Gamecocks found their success at the plate despite all the lineup changes, Logan Chapman had a solid night on the mound to keep things close. Chapman gave up two runs on three hits over five innings en route to his second win of the year. He also set a new career-high in innings pitched and struck out a career-high six batters. 

“I thought that was Logan's best outing of the year," Kingston said of Chapman. "He had command of the fastball with some downward angle. The ball was getting out of his hand better than it had in a long time. He threw his off-speed stuff for strikes and he only had two walks in five innings ... so we’ll take that from Logan every time. That was his best outing so far this year.”

Davidson tried to make a late comeback and scored two runs in the eighth, making it a one-run game and something that South Carolina has seen a lot of at Founders Park this season. Eddy Demurius came in and pitched two innings of scoreless relief to earn his second save and did something Kingston desperately needed to see: the Gamecocks win a close game at home. 

South Carolina (14-11) will now host Tennessee for a three-game series starting Thursday night at Founders Park. Kingston said they will still be without Campbell, Hopkins and Stokes for the weekend series, so the Gamecocks will need to get the same kind of production out of this shuffled lineup as they host the Vols. 


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