Feb. 17, 2014

South Carolina opened the 2014 season with a series sweep of Bucknell at Carolina Stadium. The Gamecocks won a doubleheader on Saturday with victories of 17-4 and 12-2 and closed out the series on Sunday with a 12-0 win.

Record: 3-0
SEC: 0-0
Home: 3-0
Away: 0-0

This Week: 3-0
2/15/14 – vs. Bucknell (W, 17-4) (DH)
2/15/14 – vs. Bucknell (W, 12-2) (DH)
2/16/14 – vs. Bucknell (W, 12-0)

NOTES:
South Carolina opened the 2014 season with a series sweep of Bucknell at Carolina Stadium. The Gamecocks won a doubleheader on Saturday with victories of 17-4 and 12-2 and closed out the series on Sunday with a 12-0 win.

South Carolina scored 41 runs on 39 hits in the weekend series. Gamecock position players hit .368 (39-for-106) with a .493 on-base percentage. Kyle Martin was the Gamecocks’ leading hitter for the weekend with a .778 average (7-for-9), four RBI and six runs scored. Connor Bright had a team-high seven RBI for the weekend with Joey Pankake and Max Schrock each scoring eight runs. South Carolina made just one error and the pitching staff combined for a team ERA of 2.00 with 32 strikeouts in 27 innings pitched. Bucknell hit just .186 in the three games.

Junior left-hander Jordan Montgomery pitched five scoreless innings on Opening Day to earn the victory. He allowed just three hits and one walk while striking out four batters. Montgomery is now 13-2 in his career with the Gamecocks.

Kyle Martin’s weekend included a career-high four hits in Sunday’s 12-0 victory. Martin went 4-for-4 with two runs scored and a RBI. His on-base percentage for the weekend was .769 with a .889 slugging percentage.

Freshman right-hander Wil Crowe had an impressive debut as he hurled 6.1 hitless innings in his first career start. Crowe walked just one and hit one batter while finishing with five strikeouts to earn his first career win in a Gamecock uniform. Bucknell had just one runner reach second base and none reach third base while Crowe was on the mound. Crowe retired 13 consecutive batters in a row before coming out of the game as he reached his pitch count total.

Junior outfielder Tanner English hit .455 (5-for-11) and drove in a career-high five runs in the 12-2 victory in the nightcap on Saturday. English tripled in that game, his eighth career three-base hit. English now sits in a tie for eighth place on the USC all-time career list.

Sophomore left-hander Jack Wynkoop picked up the win in Saturday’s 12-2 win. Wynkoop allowed just two runs on six hits in five innings. He struck out a career-high six batters as well.

Junior catcher Grayson Greiner hit .417 (5-for-12) for the weekend including a two-run homer in Sunday’s win. Greiner added two doubles and led the team in total bases with 10 for the weekend. His slugging percentage is .833 for the year. Greiner also had a pickoff at second base from behind the plate.

Sophomore infielder Max Schrock tied a school record with four walks in a game in the first game of the doubleheader on Saturday. He would add two stolen bases in the nightcap and homered in Sunday’s series finale. Schrock hit .333 (3-for-9) with a .600 on-base percentage.

Also hitting his first home run of the season on Sunday was junior infielder/outfielder Joey Pankake. Pankake started at third base in the opener and started games two and three in left field. Pankake hit .400 (4-for-10) for the weekend with a .600 on-base percentage. He walked twice and was hit three times.

Junior right-hander Joel Seddon pitched a perfect inning of relief with two strikeouts in his first appearance of the season in the 12-0 win vs. Bucknell.

Sophomore infielder DC Arendas went 3-for-4 with his first career homer, a run scored and three RBI in the season opening 17-4 win vs. Bucknell. Arendas hit .400 (4-for-10) for the weekend with a .538 on-base percentage and a .800 slugging percentage.

Junior outfielder Connor Bright factored in a lot this weekend. Bright hit .417 (5-for-12) with five runs scored, a team-high three doubles and seven RBI. Bright scored twice and drove in three runs in the 17-4 win. He added three hits and three runs in the 12-2 victory and finished the weekend with a two-run double in the 12-0 shutout.

Sophomore infielder Marcus Mooney made three starts at shortstop this weekend and led off all three games. He hit .308 (4-for-13) with a .400 on-base percentage and scored four runs. Mooney went 2-for-3 with three runs in the first game on Opening Day.

Sophomore right-hander Curt Britt hurled 2.1 scoreless innings with jus two hits allowed and three strikeouts in the 12-2 win. He was followed up by sophomore left-hander Vince Fiori who struck out all three batters he faced. Freshman right-hander Reed Scott followed him with 0.2 perfect innings.

Freshman right-hander Taylor Widener had two scoreless innings of relief with two strikeouts in the 17-4 win. Junior right-hander Cody Mincey worked a perfect inning of relief in Sunday’s 12-0 win with two strikeouts. Freshman right-hander Josh Reagan had 0.2 scoreless innings as well and right-hander Trey McNickle retired had 0.1 scoreless innings.

South Carolina’s three double-digit run totals is the first time since 1987 that the Gamecocks reached double digits in runs in all three games.

The Gamecocks had 15 players make their debut in the series. Elliott Caldwell, Gene Cone, Wil Crowe, Jordan Gore, Logan Koch, Zack Madden, Brock Maxwell, Trey McNickle, Cody Mincey, Marcus Mooney, Weber Pike, Josh Reagan, Reed Scott, Matthew Vogel and Taylor Widener.

NEXT WEEK
2/18/14 – vs. Presbyterian – 4 p.m.
2/21/14 – vs. Eastern Kentucky – 3 p.m.
2/22/14 – vs. Eastern Kentucky – 4 p.m.
2/23/14 – vs. Eastern Kentucky – 1:30 p.m.