The South Carolina Gamecocks traveled to Charleston on Tuesday to face off against The Citadel, defeating the Bulldogs 13-2 in only seven innings as the mercy rule came into effect.
This win improves the Gamecocks' record to 24-2, the best start after 26 games in program history.
The game started rough for South Carolina, as The Citadel scored the game's first run in the first inning to take the lead. The Gamecocks got runners on base but failed to bring them around to score, leaving five runners on base in just the first two innings.
However, the Gamecocks' offense came alive in the third inning after sophomore catcher Cole Messina’s RBI double tied the game at 1. Messina usually catches for the Gamecocks but played first base tonight. Junior outfielder Caleb Denny later hit a two-run home run to dead centerfield, giving the Gamecocks the lead.
Free baserunners helped the team grow its lead. South Carolina hitters got walked eight times in the seven-inning contest and were hit by a pitch three times.
The Gamecocks finally started cashing in these opportunities when senior catcher Jonathan French got a 2-RBI double coming off two of the hit by pitches in the fourth inning.
The Gamecocks' lineup exploded in the sixth inning, putting up seven runs on the Bulldogs. Sophomore outfielder Evan Stone and senior infielder Braylen Wimmer played big parts in the inning, earning 2-RBI hits each.
Junior first baseman Gavin Casas was the designated hitter and later extended the lead to 11 runs after he hit a three-run home run for his 14th homer of the season.
The team called on its bullpen often, using seven different pitchers in the contest. The performance was stellar as the unlikely combination of redshirt freshman pitcher Sam Simpson; junior pitcher Zach Zedalis; redshirt sophomore pitcher Jackson Phipps; fifth-year pitcher Nick Proctor; freshman pitcher Eli Jerzembeck; redshirt junior pitcher James Hicks and redshirt sophomore pitcher Cade Austin got the job done. They combined for 11 strikeouts while only allowing four hits in seven innings of work.
“I just think that shows the depth that we have," head coach Mark Kingston said. "On a Tuesday night, when you don’t want to use a lot of guys that have been pitching a lot of innings, we can still come out and give up two runs on four hits. Very, very happy with those guys.”
South Carolina will continue its play on Thursday against Mississippi State (15-11), starting a three-game series against its conference foe. Looking ahead, the rotation for the weekend is still a question for the Gamecocks.
"We're still working through that. Again, we're going to probably finalize (the weekend rotation) obviously tomorrow," Kingston said. "This is a short week, and you're going to have to ask all of your guys to maybe pitch on a day's less rest. Don't forget that Jack (Mahoney) had to pitch on Saturday, which was already a day off, so we'll factor in a lot of different things, but the short week will be an important part of it."
The first pitch of the first series is set at 7 p.m. to be streamed on the SEC Network.