Baseball Clinches Wright State Series with 10-5 Win on Saturday
Feb. 25, 2017
COLUMBIA, S.C. – Junior right-hander Wil Crowe struck out nine batters in 6.1 innings of work and junior catcher Hunter Taylor went 3-for-5 at the plate with two doubles on three hits as fourth ranked South Carolina defeated twenty-fifth ranked Wright State 10-5 on Saturday evening at Founders Park. The Gamecocks are now 5-2 on the season, while Wright State dropped to 2-3.
Crowe improved to 2-0 on the year after allowing just one run on four hits with one walk. Sophomore left-hander Zane Collins suffered the loss and fell to 0-2 on the season after giving up four runs on seven hits in five innings with one walk and three strikeouts.
South Carolina took an early 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first. With the bases loaded, Jacob Olson hit a two-out, three-run double to left field to clear the bags. Jonah Bride knocked in a run in the bottom of the fourth with a groundout to third to score Olson, giving South Carolina a 4-0 advantage.
Carolina added six runs in the bottom of the sixth. With Jonah Bride on first and Hunter Taylor on third, Danny Blair laid down a successful squeeze bunt to bring Taylor home. The Gamecocks scored two runs then after Justin Row was hit by pitch and Madison Stokes walked. Matt Williams delivered a two-run single to right field and a balk by Bear Bellomy brought in the final run of the inning.
The Raiders got on the board in the top of the seventh inning when Adrian Marquez hit a three-run homer to right field, cutting the Gamecocks lead to seven. Marquez added another run for Wright State when he launched a solo homer to right field in the top of the ninth and a hit by pitch scored the last run for the Raiders.
GAME CHANGER
The six-run sixth inning gave the Gamecocks a 10-run cushion and a lead they would not relinquish.
KEY STAT
This is the fourth game of the year that the Gamecocks have tied the season-high with 11 hits.
NOTABLES
– TJ Hopkins hit his second career triple in the second inning. His first triple was in the 2016 NCAA Regionals vs. Rhode Island.
– Danny Blair has reached base safely in all seven games this year.
– Hunter Taylor recorded his first career two double game, his first coming in the fourth and his second in the sixth inning. He also set a career high in hits with three.
– Matt Williams currently holds a five game hitting streak.
QUOTABLE FROM SOUTH CAROLINA HEAD COACH Chad Holbrook
“It was obviously a big win for us. I have the utmost respect for Wright State as I said yesterday and my respect for them continues to grow as we go through these two games. We had a big first inning, when we had two outs and nobody on and we can score 3 runs. Jacob Olson with that big hit, got us some momentum in the dugout. We had the big six-run sixth inning and got up 10 runs, and from there we kind of let our guard down a little bit. I was a little bit disappointed. But all in all, a big win for our team and we’ll come to the park tomorrow with the mindset to try to win one game tomorrow. We’ve got to beat a really good pitcher. I think one of their best guys is throwing tomorrow, and we’re throwing one of our really good guys as well. We have to come to the park ready to play tomorrow.”
UP NEXT
The final game of the three game series with Wright State is slated for tomorrow at 1:30 p.m. at Founders Park. It will be broadcast live on SEC Network +. The game can be heard on the Gamecock IMG Network including flagship station, 107.5 FM, “The Game.”
