Feb. 17, 2018
Final Box Photo Gallery Twitter COLUMBIA — The University of South Carolina baseball team bounced back with three home runs, two off the bat of Madison Stokes and solid pitching from Cody Morris in a 7-2 win over VMI Saturday afternoon (Feb. 17) at Founders Park. The Gamecocks were hot at the start, with eight of the first nine batters reaching base. Singles from TJ Hopkins, Jonah Bride, Madison Stokes, and Jacob Olson helped score Noah Campbell, Hopkins, and Carlos Cortes, putting the Gamecocks up 3-0 in the first. Stokes continued to dominate at the plate in the third as he sent one flying out of the park for his first home run of the season, increasing the Gamecock lead to 4-0. A single from VMI catcher Peyton Maddox scored Nathan Eaton, cutting the Carolina lead to 4-1 in the top of the fourth. The ball continued to fly in the bottom of the fourth as Hunter Taylor hit one soaring in the gap in left for his first home run of the year, stretching the Gamecock lead to 5-1. The bottom of the fifth brought another home run for Stokes, a mammoth shot that gave him his first multi-home run game of his career. VMI answered in the sixth with a solo homer by Eaton, making the score 6-2. Logan Chapman came in to replace Morris after two outs, striking out Payton Maddox to end the Keydet threat. The Gamecocks followed suit in their half of the sixth inning when a single from Cortes that brought Hopkins home, making the score 7-2 Carolina. Sawyer Bridges entered the game as for the Gamecocks with one out in the top of the eighth. He struck out a pair in 1.2 innings of work. Morris was credited with the win, striking out six batters in 5.2 innings with only two earned runs. Zak Kent gets the loss for VMI as he allowed four runs. QUOTABLE “It’s great to comeback, bounce back after a little adversity and I thought we did that today. The key for me was Cody Morris was really good. Logan Chapman was not his sharpest but kept us in the game and Sawyer [Bridges] was really good there at the end so I thought that was the key.”- Head Coach Mark Kingston GAMECHANGER South Carolina jumped out to an early lead over the Keydets with three runs scored in the first inning off singles by Hopkins, Bride, Stokes, and Olson. KEY STAT Prior to today’s game, Stokes had four career home runs. He picked up his first career multi-home run game in Saturday’s win. Stokes is hitting .571 with four RBI in his first two games. NOTABLE Head Coach Mark Kingston picked up his first win as the head coach at South Carolina. It was his 254th career win. Sophomore Cody Morris picked up the win on the mound for the Gamecocks, moving to 4-2 all-time at Carolina. Morris struck out six in the win. Freshman Jordan Holladay saw his first action in a Gamecock uniform, starting at first base. Holladay went 0-for-3 with a walk in the win. All nine starters reached base safely in the win. South Carolina moves to 10-6 all-time against VMI. Saturday’s attendance at Founders Park was 6,627. UP NEXT South Carolina and VMI will conclude the series on Sunday afternoon (Feb. 18) with first pitch set for 1 pm. .
