After dropping three consecutive SEC series and losing six of its last 10 games, the South Carolina baseball team (22-13, 8-7 SEC) is searching for answers.
But one young Gamecock player — freshman Carlos Cortes — is giving the team a glimmer of hope in one of its darkest times this season.
The outfielder from Oviedo, Florida, is batting .293 and accounted for five runs in the Gamecocks’ series with Mississippi State over the weekend.
“I’m just looking for pitches to drive and I’m capitalizing on the opportunities that I’m getting right now,” Cortes said. “I just come out here every day, working hard, not really expecting stuff out of me. Just trying to see results pretty much.”
In Saturday’s 5-4 loss to the Bulldogs, Cortes scored all four runs for the Gamecocks with two two-run homers. With Jacob Olson on first, Cortes went yard to right field in the third inning for the first two runs of the game. He did it again with one out in the bottom of the ninth, putting the Gamecocks within one run and giving them a chance to salvage the series.
The team fell short, as Matt Williams flew out and Alex Destino grounded out to end the game. But Cortes’ offense at the top of the lineup was promising to head coach Chad Holbrook.
“Carlos obviously had a great day, but we need more than just Carlos,” Holbrook said of Cortes, who batted second as a designated hitter in the lineup Saturday.
“They gave us some really good bats at the top of the lineup. Easily, some guys, the bottom will feed off of that. They do a good job of trying to set the tone.”
The left-handed batter scored the first run in South Carolina’s 6-1 win on Sunday by hitting a solo homer to right field in the sixth. He also drew a walk in the eighth inning and was scored on LT Tolbert’s two-RBI single up the middle.
Cortes came into the 2017 season with an array of accolades from his high-school career. As a senior at Lake Howell High School in 2016, he hit .395 with 19 runs scored and 17 RBI. The ambidextrous thrower was also rated the No. 1 freshman in the SEC by Baseball America and D1Baseball.com prior to the start of the season.
“He's always been a gifted hitter," Holbrook said Sunday. "He came here to camp when he was in eighth grade and he was hitting them in the street. He's just swinging the way he's capable of. He's not trying to put too much pressure on himself and he knows he's going to be in there every day and maybe that helps, too. You're seeing what kind of hitter he is."
At the beginning of this season, Cortes wasn’t an automatic starter in Holbrook’s frequently-changing lineup, but was worked in more as his confidence progressed. He’s started nine conference games so far and has compiled 17 RBIs on 22 hits this season.
While he provided all of the Gamecocks' offense on Saturday and has a typical slugger's body type at 5-foot-7 and 195 pounds, Cortes is more than just a good hitter, according to Holbrook.
"He doesn't get enough credit for the type of baseball player he is," Holbrook said. "I'm mad at myself for not having him in there and sticking with him when he was struggling a little bit early in the year, because he's a gifted player."
"The game comes easy to him and he thinks it every step of the way. He's got great instincts when it comes to the game of baseball."