Feb. 18, 2017
COLUMBIA, S.C. – Junior right-hander Wil Crowe struck out seven in five scoreless innings of work in his first appearance since April 10, 2015 and multi-hit games from Danny Blair, Alex Destino, Jacob Olson and Justin Row helped lead fourth ranked South Carolina to a 5-1 win vs. UNCG on Saturday afternoon at Founders Park. The Gamecocks’ victory was played in front of a sellout crowd of 8,242 at Founders Park, the second straight sellout of the season.
Crowe allowed just three hits and one walk to earn the victory. Senior right-hander Reed Scott allowed just an unearned run on two hits in four innings with three strikeouts for his first save of the year. UNCG starter Bryce Hensley suffered the loss. He allowed four runs, three earned, on nine hits in 4.2 innings with a pair of strikeouts.
The Gamecocks took 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third inning. With one out and TJ Hopkins on second base, Justin Row knocked a hard single that got past Spartan third baseman JoJo Underwood into left field allowing Hopkins to score.
A three-run fifth inning increased the lead to 4-0. A pair of one-out singles from Olson and Jonah Bride put runners on the corners. Blair would drive a RBI single into right field to score Olson. With two outs and the bases loaded, Destino belted a double into the gap in left-center to score Blair and Bride. A RBI single from Carlos Cortes in the eighth inning completed the scoring for the Gamecocks. UNCG would score an unearned run in the top of the ninth.
GAME CHANGER
Destino’s two-out two-run double in the fifth inning helped the Gamecocks build a four-run lead.
KEY STAT
South Carolina out-hit UNCG for the second straight day with an 11-5 advantage. It marked the Gamecocks’ second straight game with 10 or more hits.
NOTABLES
Sophomore outfielder Danny Blair is off to a good start as he went 5-for-7 with a pair of RBI and runs scored in the first two games. Junior outfielder Alex Destino is 4-for-8 with a team-high four RBI and sophomore outfielder Jacob Olson is 4-for-6 with two runs scored as well.
Seven of the Gamecocks’ nine starters had at least one hit in Saturday’s victory.
Reed Scott’s four-inning stint was his longest outing since he went four innings at Georgia on April 16, 2016.
The sellout crowd was the second straight of the series with UNCG and the 50th sellout in Founders Park history.
QUOTABLE FROM SOUTH CAROLINA HEAD COACH Chad Holbrook
“It was a good win for us. I think, obviously, the name of the game was how we pitched. Wil [Crowe] was terrific, Reed [Scott] was terrific, made some pretty good defensive plays behind them as well. When we pitch like that and play defense its hard to score on us and that’s what we did today. We made some mistakes offensively and I don’t think we swung the bat the way we are capable of swinging it. But it’s always nice to beat a good team, we won the series today against a really good team and for that I’m fortunate, but hopefully we can come to the park and play a little bit better tomorrow than we did today. But all in all, I’m happy. Wil [Crowe] was terrific, it was great to see him back out there after a long rehabilitation as far as pitching for the Gamecocks. He didn’t disappoint and threw great against a really good hitting team, and Reed was terrific as well.”
UP NEXT
South Carolina and UNCG close out the series on Sunday with first pitch at 1:30 p.m. ET. The game will be broadcast live on SEC Network Plus and can be heard on the Gamecock IMG Network including flagship station, 107.5 FM, “The Game.”
