Feb. 23, 2015

COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina won all four games last week with a 5-2 midweek victory vs. Furman and a sweep of Northeastern with wins of 10-1, 6-0 and 6-4. The Gamecocks are now 6-1 on the year.

Record: 6-1
SEC: 0-0
Home: 6-1
Away: 0-0

Last Week: 4-0
2/17/15 – Furman (W, 5-2)
2/21/15 – Northeastern (W, 10-1)
2/21/15 – Northeastern (W, 6-0)
2/22/14 – Northeastern (W, 6-4)

NOTES:
South Carolina reached the double-digit mark in hits in all three games vs. Northeastern including a season-high 13 in Sunday’s 6-4 victory. The Gamecocks are now batting .306 (68-for-222) as a team on the year with a .403 on-base percentage and a .423 slugging mark.

Junior left-hander Jack Wynkoop tied his longest outing of his career as he went eight innings and allowed just one run on three hits with a walk and nine strikeouts in the 10-1 victory vs. Northeastern in the first game of the doubleheader. Wynkoop’s 13.0 innings ranks third in the SEC.

Freshman Alex Destino was impressive at the plate in the Northeastern series going 7-for-12 (.583) including a three-run homer in Sunday’s 6-4 victory vs. Northeastern. Destino is batting .458 (11-for-24) for the season with a pair of homers and six RBI. Destino ranks 13th in the SEC in hitting as of Monday, Feb. 23. Destino’s 11 hits for the season tie him for 6th in the SEC along with Gene Cone. Destino owns a six-game hitting streak.

Freshman right-hander Clarke Schmidt earned a pair of wins in relief last week. Schmidt worked 4.2 scoreless innings with just three hits allowed, no walks and four strikeouts in the Tuesday 5-2 win over Furman. He followed that up with 2.1 innings of work in Sunday’s 6-4 win over Northeastern allowing one run on five hits with no walks and three strikeouts. Schmidt is 2-0 with a 1.12 ERA in eight innings with no walks and seven strikeouts.

Sophomore outfielder Gene Cone has hit safely in all seven games this year and has an eight-game hitting streak dating back to last season. Cone hit .583 (7-for-12) in the Northeastern series with a pair of runs and two RBI. Cone hit his first career homer in the 10-1 win over Northeastern and followed that up with a 3-for-4 day at the plate in the 6-0 win over the Huskies. For the season, Cone is batting .407 (11-for-27) with six runs scored and a .467 on-base percentage. Cone’s 11 hits for the season tie him for 6th in the SEC along with Destino.

Sophomore right-hander Wil Crowe pitched four scoreless innings with only four hits allowed, no walks and seven strikeouts in the 6-0 win over Northeastern. Crowe is 1-0 with a 0.87 ERA in 10.1 innings with one run allowed on eight hits and three walks to 17 strikeouts. Opponents are batting .211 against him. Crowe’s 17 strikeouts are second highest in the SEC.

Sophomore Jordan Gore drove in a team-high five runs over the weekend in the Northeastern series and went 4-for-12 at the plate (.333). Gore is batting .346 (9-for-26) for the year with four runs scored and a team-high nine RBI. Gore has a team-high three multi-RBI games. Gore’s nine RBI tie him for sixth currently in the SEC.

Junior left-hander Vince Fiori earned a win in relief in the 6-0 win over Northeastern. Fiori worked two scoreless innings and allowed just two hits with a strikeout. Fiori has three appearances on the year and has not allowed a run in 4.2 innings of work.

Senior first baseman Kyle Martin has hit safely in six straight games and is batting .364 (8-for-22) with five runs and seven RBI as well as a .464 on-base percentage. Martin hit his first homer of the year in the 10-1 win over Northeastern.

Sophomore right-hander Taylor Widener picked up his second save of the season in Sunday’s 6-4 win over Northeastern. Widener allowed one run on two hits in 1.2 innings with no walks and two strikeouts. Widener has pitched 4.2 innings and has tallied eight strikeouts in two appearances with three walks. Opponents are batting .133 against him.

Senior outfielder Elliott Caldwell had a career-high in hits in Tuesday’s 5-2 win over Furman going 4-for-4 with a key three-run triple in the victory. Caldwell leads the Gamecocks in hitting with a .467 average (7-for-15) with a .529 on-base percentage as well. Caldwell ranks 11th in the SEC in hitting as of Monday, Feb. 23. His on-base percentage is 14th best with his .733 slugging mark 15th best in the league.

Sophomore right-hander Reed Scott had two clean appearances in relief vs. Northeastern this weekend. He did not allow a run in 3.0 innings of work with just one hit allowed.

Junior infielder Marcus Mooney went 3-for-4 in Saturday’s 6-0 win over Northeastern with two doubles and two runs scored. Mooney is batting .400 (4-for-10) for the year with four runs scored and a team-high three doubles.

Junior Max Schrock leads the SEC with 11 walks on the year. Schrock has tallied two or more walks in four games this year. He owns a .438 on-base percentage.

Cone, Gore and Schrock have started all seven games this year for the Gamecocks.

Sophomore catcher Logan Koch has hit safely in three consecutive games and tallied a two-run single in Saturday’s 10-1 win over Northeastern. Freshman catcher Hunter Taylor recorded his first career hit and RBI in Saturday’s 6-0 win over Northeastern.

South Carolina is 6-0 this year with a lead entering the seventh inning. South Carolina is 6-0 on the year also when allowing five runs or less. The Gamecocks are 2-1 in games decided by three runs or less.

South Carolina pitchers own a 2.29 ERA for the year and have allowed just 17 runs, 16 earned, on 60 hits in 63.0 innings with 18 walks and 55 strikeouts on the year. Opponents are batting .255 against the Gamecocks.

South Carolina is fielding .982 as a team with only five errors this year. The Gamecocks do not have an error in four games this year.

NEXT WEEK
2/24/15 – Davidson – 4 p.m.
2/27/15 – at Clemson – 6:30 p.m.
2/28/15 – vs. Clemson (at Fluor Field) – 2:30 p.m.
3/1/15 – Clemson – Noon