Roadrunners drop anvil on Carolina
Another series sweep was not in the cards for the No. 4 Gamecocks on Sunday, as Cal State Bakersfield salvaged its weekend with an 8-3 getaway game win in front of 7,128 at Carolina Stadium.
"Bakersfield has a nice club," said coach Ray Tanner. "They were able to capitalize on some opportunities, and they had a guy on the mound that knows how to pitch."
Bakersfield right-hander Tommy Hoenshell, making only his fifth career start, gave up eight hits and only struck out one Gamecock over eight innings. The performance from the 6-foot-6 junior had USC scuffling at the plate the entire day, however, as Hoenshell kept the Gamecocks off-balance with a mix of fastballs, change-ups, curveballs and sliders.
"He did a good job of getting us to just miss some balls," said outfielder Jake Williams, who went 1-4 with a run scored. "He was throwing a lot of strikes. I think that was the main thing for him. He just had all his pitches working."
Tyler Webb took the loss for the Gamecocks, his first of the season, to fall to 2-1. Webb went 2.1 innings, allowing four runs, only two of which were earned, on three hits. Webb also walked four batters and hit another. The hit-by-pitch and three of the walks came with two outs.
"I thought Tyler had his best fastball of the season early on, but then he stated missing," Tanner said. "He wasn't that far off, but at the end of the day, he wasn't sharp. He's got to do a better job than that."
The start was Webb's first appearance since his start against Clemson a week prior, in which he earned a no-decision and was called "soft" by Tigers outfielder Will Lamb after CU's 10-5 win. Speaking publicly for the first time after Sunday's loss, Webb said the comments and subsequent furor over them did not affect his start against the Roadrunners.
"Today's outing had nothing to do with the comments," Webb said. "We dealt with it accordingly and put it in the past."
Added Tanner: "Tyler is a classy young man. He works extremely hard and I know he would've liked to have pitched better than he did today. But I didn't see anything in a negative way [due to the comments]."
With the game tied at 1, Bakersfield broke through with four runs in the third inning despite having only two hits in the frame. Two USC walks, a Forrest Koumas wild pitch and an error by Peter Mooney contributed to extend the inning. Bakersfield than tacked on two more runs in the sixth and one in the ninth.
USC rallied for two runs in the bottom of the eighth and had a runner on first with one out, but Brady Thomas lined to first base, initiating a double play to end the frame and the threat.
The victory broke a three-game losing streak for the Roadrunners (12-5), who have become somewhat of a darling in the college baseball community of late. An independent, Bakersfield is playing only its third season at the Division-1 level and has only 24 players on its roster, but has already picked up wins over three Pac-10 teams, including No. 7 Arizona State, and now a win over the defending national champion Gamecocks (11-2).
"[Hoenshell] did a good job," said third baseman Christian Walker. "He did what they wanted. It was just one of those days."