Big Second Inning Lifts Baseball Past Penn

COLUMBIA  – The University of South Carolina baseball team scored five runs in the second inning on its way to a 7-4 win over Penn Friday afternoon (Feb. 24) at Founders Park, moving to 6-0 on the season.

The big blast in the second was Ethan Petry’s three-run home run down the left field line. Will McGillis followed with a triple and and with the bases loaded, Caleb Denny delivered a two-run single to right for the 5-0 lead. Denny added an RBI single in the sixth for a 6-1 Gamecock lead.

Penn scored three in the seventh, two off a Ben Miller home run, and had two runners on in the eighth. Chris Veach came in and got a groundout to end the threat, then pitched the ninth to record his first save of the season.

Cole Messina added insurance in the eighth inning with a solo blast to left to put Carolina up three.

Denny had three hits in the win, while McGillis added a pair. Petry and Denny had three RBI each.

Will Sanders picked up his first win of 2023, pitching five innings with four hits, one unearned run, two walks and six strikeouts. The bullpen of Cade Austin, Nick Proctor, Jackson Phipps and Veach combined for six strikeouts in four innings.

POSTGAME NOTES

• Sanders moves to 15-6 in his Carolina career with today’s win.
• Carolina now has 22 home runs on the year, with Petry and Messina each hitting their fourth of 2023.
• The two teams combined to leave 21 runners on base.
• Veach now has five career saves. He had four at Presbyterian in 2021.
• Caleb Denny moved his on-base streak to 34 games (dating back to last season at Oral Roberts) and leads the team with 17 RBI.

UP NEXT
Carolina continues its season-opening nine game homestand on Saturday afternoon (Feb. 25) against Penn. First pitch is set for 2 p.m. The game will be streamed on SEC Network Plus.