Despite undergoing six hitless innings, the No. 18 South Carolina baseball team overcame a two-run deficit to defeat Davidson, 3-2, Tuesday.
Third baseman Jonah Bride broke up Josh Hudson’s no-hitter with a double in the seventh and scored the go-ahead run with an RBI-double in the eighth.
“Jonah was the right man in the right spot tonight,” coach Chad Holbrook said. “You know, we don’t win the game without him. He’s just a baseball player and knows the situation at hand. He tries to do and execute what the pitcher is giving to him.”
Freshman right-handed pitcher Cody Morris (2-1) started his outing with back-to-back 1-2-3 innings. But gave up two home runs in the fourth to Davidson right fielder Will Robertson and first baseman Brian Fortier.
“Maybe I could’ve gotten him out a bit quicker and he would’ve felt a little better about himself, but I thought he threw extremely well,” Holbrook said of Morris. “He became one dimensional there when they got to him a little bit. Lost command of his offspeed stuff, but he had a lot better command of his fastball today, so it was good to see.”
Reliever Colie Bowers (3-0) earned his third win of the season, after giving up no runs and one hit over 1.2 innings pitched. Closer Tyler Johnson took over in the ninth inning and earned his fifth save of the season. He gave up a double to center fielder Cam Johnson, but struck out three of the four batters he faced.
The Gamecocks finished with three hits -- Bride's two doubles and a two-RBI single from Jacob Olson -- while Davidson finished with seven. Despite the low hit total, Bride said he's confident in the Gamecocks' ability to win close games.
"It's awesome to have Tyler [Johnson] back. With all of our arms, I feel like we can win on any given weekend," Bride said. "If we just put it all together and clean up defense. Myself personally, I need to clean up my defense. That's something I'm working on. But we have the confidence for sure."
Fifth-inning jam
Johnson hit a one-out single through the right side and stole second. Designated hitter Alec Acosta reached first on a wild pitch from Colby Lee, while Johnson advanced to third. With runners on the corners, Fortier drew a two-out walk to load the bases. Lee was replaced by right-handed pitcher Reed Scott, who got Jones to fly out for the third out.
Foul ruling
In the seventh inning, Bride led off by hitting a long foul ball to left field. Holbrook heard the ball clank off metal in the outfield, and thought it might have been a home run in fair territory. The ball was initially ruled foul, and after undergoing an official review, the call stood. Following the foul ruling, Bride doubled to right-center field.
“I heard metal and I didn’t know what kind of metal. We got all kinds of metal out there. We’ve got yellow metal, red metal. All I know is I heard a metal. They said it was inconclusive of the replay,” Holbrook said. “Usually, when you hear it that loud, that yellow pole is solid. That red pole is kind of cheap and usually you hear solid stuff. You don’t hear cheap stuff.”
What’s Next:
The Gamecocks will take on division rival Florida in a three-game series, beginning at 7:30 p.m. Thursday.
“They’ve got some big arms, they’ve got some big players and they’re one of the top teams every year, but we’ve also got some good arms going," Bride said. "We’ve got some confidence going and if we put it all together. I think we’ll be fine.”