March 17, 2015
| SCORE BY INNINGS | ||||||||||||||
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | R | H | E |
| Winthrop (14-5) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 7 | 13 | 3 |
| South Carolina (17-4) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 11 | 1 |
| VIDEO COVERAGE | |||||
| Highlights | |||||
| Trey Dyson & Derek Scott Post-Game Report | |||||
| Coach Holbrook | |||||
| Kyle Martin | |||||
| Matthew Vogel | |||||
| Elliott Caldwell | |||||
COLUMBIA, S.C. – Fifth-ranked South Carolina’s 11th inning rally fell short as Winthrop defeated the Gamecocks 7-5 on Tuesday night at Carolina Stadium to snap Carolina’s 10-game winning streak. The loss drops the Gamecocks to 17-4 on the year while the Eagles improve to 14-5.
Winthrop loaded the bases with one out in the top of the 11th inning. Babe Thomas put the Eagles ahead 5-3 with a two-run single and Roger Gonzalez added a two-out two-run single to increase Winthrop’s lead to four runs. The Gamecocks looked to rally in the bottom of the 11th but were only able to push across two runs. Kyle Martin and Elliott Caldwell opened the frame with a pair of singles and Alex Destino drove in Martin with RBI single to left field. Caldwell scored the fifth and final run for South Carolina on pinch hitter Collin Steagall’s two-out RBI single to right. With runners on the corners and two outs, Winthrop reliever Joey Strain recorded the final out on a popup off the bat of Marcus Mooney to Eagles’ shortstop Kyle Edwards.
South Carolina senior right-hander Cody Mincey suffered the loss after allowing four runs on three hits and one walk in 0.2 innings of relief. He is 0-1 on the year. Strain earned the win in relief for the Eagles allowing two runs on four hits in 1.2 innings of work. He is 2-0 for the season.
Winthrop got on the board early with one run in the top of the first. A pair of two-out walks followed by a RBI double off the bat of Gonzalez gave the Eagles a 1-0 lead.
The Gamecocks answered with a run in the bottom of the fourth. Caldwell bunted for a base hit, advanced to second on Alex Destino’s groundout and stole third before scoring on a throwing error by Gonzalez, the catcher.
The Eagles added runs in both the fifth and sixth innings on a RBI single from Babe Thomas and a sacrifice fly form Kyle Edwards to take a 3-1 lead.
South Carolina tied the game at 3-3 plating a pair of runs in the bottom of the sixth. After back-to-back errors by Winthrop, Jordan Gore and Kyle Martin moved into scoring position. Caldwell drove in Gore with a single through the left side and Martin scored on Connor Bright’s RBI sacrifice fly to center.
Caldwell and Martin both were 3-for-5 with two runs scored to lead the Gamecocks at the plate with Destino with two hits as well. Gonzalez had three hits to lead Winthrop at the plate.
GAME CHANGER
Babe Thomas’ one-out two-RBI single in the top of the 11th gave Eagles a 5-3 advantage.
KEY STAT
Winthrop was 7-for-13 with runners in scoring position.
NOTABLES
• Kyle Martin extended his hitting streak to eight games. He tallied his team-leading fourth double of the year and recorded the 40th multi-hit game of his career.
• Elliot Caldwell recorded his fourth consecutive multi-hit game and 17th of his career.
• Gene Cone’s streak of reaching base in 20 consecutive games ended.
QUOTABLE
South Carolina Head Coach Chad Holbrook
“Winthrop has a nice-looking team and they’re off to a great start. We knew it would be a tough game tonight and obviously that’s what we got. We just didn’t quite do enough offensively for the first 10 innings, just didn’t do enough to win the game. Their at bats were a little bit better than ours. They had some good at bats. Some of our leadoffs Gene (Cone) and Jordan (Gore) were 0-for-10 at the top. Elliott (Caldwell) and Kyle (Martin) had three hits a piece but they didn’t have many people to drive in, in front of them. As a team we have to continue to get better offensively. We have some guys doing some nice things, but there are nine hitters in there and they all have a role. We have to get some guys on base in front of the meat of our lineup. We’ve had some good fortune the last 10 games. Sometimes the ball bounces your way. Baseball has a way of giving and a way of taking away. Tonight we played a really solid opponent. We just didn’t do enough from an offensive standpoint to win the game, so congratulations to Winthrop.​”
UP NEXT
South Carolina travels to Columbia, Mo. for a three-game SEC series with Missouri. First pitch for Friday’s opener is set for 7 p.m. ET. Friday and Sunday’s games will be broadcast on the SEC Network + and Saturday’s will air on the SEC Network. All three games can be heard on the Gamecock IMG Network including flagship station, 107.5 FM, “The Game.”
