After pitching five scoreless innings in his debut back from Tommy John surgery, South Carolina right-hander Wil Crowe followed up with another impressive outing, striking out nine in the Gamecocks' 10-5 win over Wright State.
Crowe's performance continued a trend of highly productive starts from South Carolina's much-heralded weekend rotation. Through five combined starts Clarke Schmidt, Adam Hill and Crowe have allowed two earned runs with 37 strikeouts and just seven walks in 31 1/3 innings.
Following two quick outs on three pitches to start the bottom of the first, designated hitter Alex Destino and shortstop Madison Stokes reached on consecutive singles. Matt Williams loaded the bases after being hit by a pitch. Sophomore right fielder Jacob Olson pulled a low-and-away offering from Wright State's Zane Collins for a bases-clearing double to give South Carolina an early 3-0 advantage.
Crowe gained momentum in the middle innings, recording five total strikeouts in the fourth and fifth innings. He needed just eight pitches to work a clean sixth inning. The redshirt junior pitched primarily off his fastball, working both sides of the plate while locating 68 percent of his pitches for strikes.
"I think his outing was much more polished and impressive than last week's, and last week was pretty darn good," said South Carolina head coach Chad Holbrook.
Third baseman Jonah Bride helped pad South Carolina's lead with an RBI-groundout in the fourth to score Olson.
The Gamecocks batted around in the sixth inning to score six runs and push their lead to 10-0. Catcher Hunter Taylor initiated the scoring outburst with a double to left field. The junior collected three hits and two doubles in his first start of the season. Taylor had planned on transferring in search of increased playing time after 2016, but then decided to return to the program. Fellow backstops Chris Cullen and John Jones are hitting a combined .105 this season.
"I'm so proud of him [Taylor] because he works as hard as anybody and our pitchers love throwing him the ball," said Holbrook. "He gives great energy back there and is always talking with our pitchers. He's kind of an emotional leader for our team."
Crowe carried his streak of 11 scoreless innings to start the season into the seventh. After allowing a leadoff double, he notched his final strikeout of the outing and departed to a standing ovation. Junior reliever Brandon Murray walked the first batter he faced and then allowed a three-run home run to WSU right fielder Adrian Marquez, consequentially resulting in the first earned run charged to Crowe.
Marquez would hit a second home run in the top of the ninth off of South Carolina right-hander Sawyer Bridges. The Raiders were able to muster a final run on a single and three hit-by-pitches to cut South Carolina's lead to 10-5, before senior reliever Josh Reagan struck out the final batter of the game.
Next up
The Gamecocks will look to sweep the series tomorrow with sophomore right-hander Adam Hill on the mound. Hill allowed just one hit in a 1-0 loss to UNCG in his most recent start. First pitch is scheduled for 1:30 p.m.