March 16, 2010
Columbia, S.C. – Nolan Belcher hurled six scoreless innings to pick up his second win of the season and Scott Wingo drove in a career-high four runs as South Carolina defeated Furman 15-0 on Tuesday night at Fluor Field. This is the second consecutive season Carolina has defeated the Paladins 15-0 at Fluor Field. The Gamecocks are 12-4 on the year while Furman drops to 6-10 for the season. South Carolina returns to Columbia for a Wednesday night non-conference tilt vs. Davidson. First pitch at Carolina Stadium is set for 7 p.m. with live video broadcast at GamecocksOnline.com with the game also available on the Gamecock Radio Network.
Belcher allowed just four hits in six innings of work and tallied six strikeouts with just one walk allowed. He is 2-0 on the year. He combined with Patrick Sullivan, John Taylor and Jordan Propst for the second shutout of the season. Furman starter Barry Benton went five innings and allowed 11 runs, four earned, on nine hits with six strikeouts and two walks allowed. He is 0-4 on the year.
The Gamecocks broke out of the gates with a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning. Adrian Morales reached base on a one-out double and scored on Christian Walker’s RBI single up the middle. Kyle Enders kept the momentum going with a single to centerfield as well and Walker would end up scoring as he advanced to third on a wild pitch by Benton and reached home on a throwing error by Furman catcher Paul Nitto.
After a scoreless second inning, the Gamecocks increased their lead to 7-0 with five runs with two outs in the third inning. Carolina was able to take advantage of a couple of Furman miscues as Kyle Enders reached base on a two-out error by shortstop J.B. Jenkins and Nick Ebert and Adam Matthews each drew walks to load the bases. Carolina then avoided the end of the inning as a wild pitch by Benton on a strikeout allowed Robert Beary to reach base and Enders to score. Evan Marzilli was then hit by a pitch to score Ebert. It would be Scott Wingo that would come up with the big hit in the inning for the Garnet & Black as he launched a base clearing double into the gap in right that scored all three runs and gave Carolina a seven-run cushion.
The lead was extended to 8-0 in the fourth inning as Carolina scored another unearned run off of Benton. Whit Merrifield had a leadoff single and then reached third base as Benton threw wild trying to nab Merrifield at second base on a fielder’s choice. Merrifield would eventually score on Christian Walker’s RBI sacrifice fly to centerfield.
South Carolina kept it going with two outs in the fifth inning scoring three more runs to go ahead 11-0 on the Paladins. Robert Beary got it started with a single up the middle followed by Marzilli reaching base as he was hit by pitch for a second time. Wingo drilled a base hit to right field scoring Beary and Merrifield followed with a two-run double down the right field line that scored Marzilli and Wingo.
Carolina closed out the scoring with four runs in the ninth inning. Matthews had a RBI single, Merrifield had a RBI base hit and Adrian Morales drove in a pair of runs with a single.
South Carolina out-hit Furman 14-5 on the evening. 12 of the 15 runs scored were with two outs. Merrifield finished 3-for-6 with three RBI with Morales, Enders and Marzilli also tallying two hits apiece. All nine starters scored at least one run in the game with eight of nine finishing with at least one hit. Morales extended his hitting streak to 11 games. Furman was led by Will Owens who finished 2-for-3 at the plate.
South Carolina is now 5-0 in all-time games played at Fluor Field with four victories vs. Furman (2006, 2008, 2009, 2010) and one win over Clemson (2010).
