Feb. 24, 2014
COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina continued the 2014 season with a midweek victory over Presbyterian 4-0 as well as a three-game sweep of Eastern Kentucky with victories of 4-0, 2-0, 6-0. The Gamecocks are now 7-0 on the year. South Carolina set a school record on Sunday as the Gamecocks recorded the fifth consecutive shutout. The previous record of four was set in 1972. South Carolina has not allowed a run in 51.0 straight innings. The only runs allowed by the Gamecocks so far in the year were four runs in the final two innings of the 17-4 win over Bucknell in the season opener and a pair of runs by the Bison in the third inning of a 12-2 victory in game two of the season.
Record: 7-0
SEC: 0-0
Home: 7-0
Away: 0-0
This Week: 4-0
2/18/14 – Presbyterian (W, 4-0)
2/21/14 – Eastern Kentucky (W, 4-0)
2/22/14 – Eastern Kentucky (W, 2-0)
2/23/14 – Eastern Kentucky (W, 6-0)
South Carolina’s pitching staff has an impressive 0.86 ERA after the first seven games. The Gamecocks have allowed just six runs on 40 hits in 63.0 innings with 70 strikeouts to 15 walks. Opponents are hitting only .179 against the staff. The staff has not allowed an opponent to reach double-digit in hits at all this season.
Junior left-hander Jordan Montgomery worked seven scoreless innings and allowed just five hits and two walks while striking out four batters in Friday’s 4-0 win over Eastern Kentucky. Montgomery also has a scoreless streak, as he has not allowed a run in 33.2 consecutive innings going back to last year.
Junior outfielder Connor Bright hit .417 (5-for-12) vs. Eastern Kentucky with a pair of runs scored and three RBI. Bright is hitting .444 (12-for-27) and has hit safely in all seven games. He has an eight-game hitting streak going back to last year. Bright leads the team in doubles (5) and RBI (11) as well. He has a .516 on-base percentage.
Sophomore left-hander Jack Wynkoop pitched 7.1 scoreless innings and struck out a career-high 10 batters in Saturday’s 2-0 win over the Colonels. He allowed just three hits and one walk. Wynkoop leads the Gamecocks with 16 strikeouts in 12.1 innings.
Junior catcher Grayson Greiner’s two-run homer was the key hit in the 2-0 victory over EKU. Greiner has started all seven games behind the plate and is hitting .320 (8-for-25) on the year with a pair of homers and 10 RBI. He and Bright lead the team with four multi-RBI games.
Junior right-hander Joel Seddon made an appearance in all three games vs. EKU closing out each contest. He did not allow a batter to reach base in any of the three games. Seddon has seven strikeouts in 3.2 innings. Saturday’s appearance earned him a save, his first of the season.
Junior first baseman Kyle Martin tallied a solo homer in Friday’s 4-0 win. Martin continues to lead the team in hitting with a .500 average (12-for-24) after seven games as well as nine runs scored and eight RBI. He has a .567 on-base percentage and a .792 slugging percentage. Martin has a team-high four multi-hit games.
Junior right-hander Cody Mincey appeared in all four games this past week. Mincey worked a scoreless 1.1 innings to close out Tuesday’s 4-0 win over Presbyterian with three strikeouts. He followed that up with another inning in the 4-0 win on Friday. On Saturday he retired the lone batter he faced and Sunday he struck out bot the batters he faced. Mincey has nine strikeouts in 4.1 innings. His five appearances on the year leads the team.
Junior infielder/outfielder Joey Pankake was 1-for-3 with two runs and a RBI in the 6-0 win on Sunday. Pankake is hitting .292 (7-for-24) with a team-high 12 runs scored. His on-base percentage is .438 as he has drawn three walks and been hit by four pitches.
Freshman right-hander Wil Crowe followed up his SEC Pitcher of the Week performance with another stellar outing vs. the Colonels. He worked 6.1 scoreless innings on Sunday with just four hits allowed and one walk to pick up his second win of the season. Crowe has 10 strikeouts in a team-high 12.2 innings pitched. Opponents are hitting just .100 against him.
Sophomore infielder Max Schrock has a team-high eight walks and a .469 on-base percentage in seven games. Schrock homered in Friday’s 4-0 win, his second homer of the year. He has scored 10 runs this year.
Sophomore left-hander Vince Fiori made two more appearances this weekend. He has four strikeouts in 1.2 innings pitched.
South Carolina is hitting .319 (73-for-229) as a team with a .432 on-base percentage and a .493 slugging percentage. The Gamecocks have scored 57 runs in 56.0 innings at the plate. South Carolina has a .984 fielding percentage with just four errors on the year. South Carolina has eight homers on the year with at least one home run in five of the seven games.
Saturday’s game was played in front of a sellout crowd of 8,242 fans, the first sellout of the season at Carolina Stadium and the 31st in school history at Carolina Stadium. South Carolina has totaled 52,806 in attendance in the first seven games for an average of 7,543 per contest.
NEXT WEEK
2/28/14 – vs. Clemson – 7 p.m. (FOX Sports South)
3/1/14 – vs. Clemson at Fluor Field (Greenville, S.C.) – 2 p.m. (WMYA My40 will serve as the flagship station, airing the game in the Upstate South Carolina and Western North Carolina, and stations in Charleston (WTAT), Columbia (WOLO), Myrtle Beach/Florence (WPDE), Charlotte (WCCB), Augusta (WJBF) and Savannah (WJCL) will also broadcast the game to their respective markets)
3/2/14 – at Clemson – 4 p.m.
