March 7, 2015
| SCORE BY INNINGS | ||||||||||||
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| Miami (Ohio) (2-7) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 |
| South Carolina (11-3) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 0 | X | 7 | 6 | 1 |
| VIDEO COVERAGE | |||||
| Highlights | |||||
| Coach Holbrook | |||||
| Connor Bright | |||||
| Jack Wynkoop | |||||
COLUMBIA, S.C. – Junior left-hander Jack Wynkoop pitched eight shutout innings and was backed by a from a grand slam home run from Connor Bright as fifth-ranked South Carolina defeated Miami (Ohio) 7-0 on Saturday night at Carolina Stadium. The Gamecocks are now 11-3 on the year while the loss drops the RedHawks to 2-7.
The Gamecocks got on the board first in the bottom of the second as Connor Bright drew a one-out walk, followed by a base hit from DC Arendas and a failed pickoff attempt from RedHawk pitcher Jacob Banks that allowed Bright to score.
South Carolina increased its lead to 3-0 in the bottom of the sixth. The Miami second baseman misplayed a grounder up the middle off the bat of Bright giving the Gamecocks runners on first and second with one out. After a walk to DC Arendas loaded the bases, Logan Koch hit a hard grounder that got past Miami first baseman Kendall Johnson, who was playing in on the infield allowing both Martin and Connor Bright to score.
Bright gave the Gamecocks a 7-0 advantage with his grand slam. A pair of walks to Max Schrock and Elliot Caldwell paired with a single through the left side from Martin set the stage for Bright, who knocked a 1-0 pitch over the wall in left center for a grand slam.
Wynkoop, now 3-1 on the year, hurled eight scoreless innings allowing just three hits and one walk and striking out five batters. John Parke and Canaan Cropper combined for one perfect inning to close out the game.
GAME CHANGER
Bright’s grand slam in the seventh inning broke open a three-run game.
KEY STAT Wynkoop allowed just three hits to earn his third straight win on the mound for the Gamecocks
NOTABLES
- Jordan Gore tied a season-high with two hits in the game.
- Connor Bright has three home runs and 12 RBI on the season. He tied his career-high with three runs, which also ties the single game high by a Gamecock this season. He also tied a career-high four RBI, which he set last week at Clemson. The grand slam was the first of his career.
- Max Schrock tallied his team-leading fifth walk of the season.
- Bright’s grand slam was the second of the season for the Gamecocks
- South Carolina batters tied a season-high with eight walks in a game.
- Jack Wynkoop tied his career long outing of eight innings.
QUOTABLE South Carolina Head Coach Chad Holbrook
Opening Statement
The story of the game was really the way Jack Wynkoop threw. He was in complete control and he got all those pitches over for strikes. His change up was working. He threw some really good change ups to left-handed hitters. It’s very difficult for left-handed hitters to face a guy who’s throwing mid to upper 80’s and can dump a breaking ball in there and he can throw a change up in there too. Very, very difficult. They (Miami) have some pretty good left-handed hitters and he was in complete control today. For the most part we played good defense. I know Wynkoop had an error but our infielders played good defense behind it. We’re still just disappointed in our team’s offense. Offensively I don’t think we were competitive enough. I know what’s coming here shortly and we’re going to have to be more competitive offensively for us to have the success we want to have. But all in all it was a good day. Any time you win 7-0 you don’t want to complain about too much, but I do know we need to get better. It’s good to see Connor Bright get off the mat a little bit and pick himself up and have a big hit there. He had two walks and home run. The grand slam kind of put the game away. All in all I hope we can come out tomorrow and play a little bit better. Clarke Schmidt will start tomorrow and we’ll see if we can put together a few more hits. Nine hits in two games is not good enough and I think our players understand that. But we also pitched and played defense, which allowed us to win the two games. Hopefully we can play a little bit better tomorrow from an offensive standpoint.
UP NEXT
The series finale between South Carolina and Miami is set for Sunday with first pitch at 1:30 p.m. The game will be broadcast on SEC Network + and can be heard on the Gamecock IMG Network including flagship station, 107.5 FM, “The Game.”
