April 6, 2015

COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina went 2-2 last week with wins at The Citadel and Mississippi State. The Gamecocks are 21-11 with a 6-6 conference mark. The Gamecocks are tied for third in the SEC Eastern Division and fifth in the league overall.

Record: 21-11
SEC: 6-6
Home: 17-5
Away: 3-6
Neutral: 1-0

Last Week: 2-2
3/31/15 – at The Citadel (W, 2-0)
4/2/15 – at Mississippi State (L, 13-2)
4/3/15 – at Mississippi State (L, 7-5)
4/4/15 – at Mississippi State (W, 13-7)

NOTES
Saturday’s 13-7 win at Mississippi State featured a season-high 13 runs scored and the Gamecocks tied a season-high with 15 hits in the contest. All nine Gamecock starters had at least one hit in the contest.

Junior infielder Max Schrock had a career day for the Gamecocks going 5-for-6 with a homer, two RBI and two runs scored in the 13-7 win at Mississippi State. Schrock also was busy in the field with eight assists, which is a season-high by a Gamecock player in a game this year as well. Schrock hit .571 for the series and raised his season batting average to .287 (33-for-115) with four homers, six doubles, 26 RBI and 27 runs scored. He has 24 walks to 10 strikeouts with a .401 on-base percentage and a. 461 slugging mark. Schrock is hitting .308 (16-for-52) in league games with 13 RBI as well.

Freshman right-hander Brandon Murray picked up his fourth win of the year and is now 4-0 on the season with three wins in SEC play as he pitched 5.2 innings of relief allowing just two runs on four hits in the 13-7 victory at Mississippi State. Murray’s 5-2 innings marked the longest outing of his Gamecock career. For the season, Murray is 4-0 with a 1.71 ERA in 10 relief appearances with a save. He has 11 strikeouts to four walks and opponents batting .181 against him.

Senior first baseman Kyle Martin continues to perform at a high level. Martin was 4-for-10 in the MSU series with three runs scored and four RBI for the Gamecocks. Martin was 1-for-3 with two walks, a run scored and three RBI in the 13-7 win at Mississippi State. Martin is hitting .379 (44-for-116) with six homers, eight doubles, 29 runs scored and 33 RBI. He has 20 walks to 11 strikeouts with a .469 on-base percentage and a .621 slugging percentage. Martin is hitting .422 in SEC games with a .733 slugging percentage and a .526 on-base percentage in 12 league games.

Junior left-hander Jack Wynkoop suffered a loss despite keeping the Gamecocks in it on Friday in a 7-5 loss at Mississippi State. Wynkoop allowed seven runs, one earned, on 14 hits in 6.1 innings with a walk and four strikeouts. For the season, Wynkoop is 4-3 with a 2.19 ERA in 53.1 innings with seven walks and 45 strikeouts. Opponents are hitting .259 against him. Wynkoop ranks fourth in the SEC in innings pitched, sixth in earned run average and tied for 12th in strikeouts.

Senior outfielder Elliott Caldwell leads the Gamecocks at the plate with a .380 average (41-for-108) with 19 runs scored and 21 RBI. He has a .461 on-base percentage and a .537 slugging mark. Caldwell hit .500 (6-for-12) in the Mississippi State series with two runs scored and three RBI. Caldwell was 2-for-4 with two RBI in the 13-7 win vs. the Bulldogs. He also had two triples on the week and leads the Gamecocks with four for the season, tied for third highest in the conference. Caldwell owns a team-high 14 multi-hit games.

Sophomore right-hander Wil Crowe is among league leaders in strikeouts with 56 in 47.0 innings, that is tied for fourth highest in the conference. Crowe is 3-3 with a 4.02 ERA. His 47.0 innings are tied for 14th highest in the conference.

Sophomore outfielder Gene Cone scored four runs in the 13-7 win at Mississippi State on Saturday. The four runs is an individual high by a Gamecock player in a game this season. Cone is hitting .288 (34-for-118) for the year with a .421 on-base percentage and a team-high 30 runs scored on the year. Cone has started all 32 games in center field for the Gamecocks.

Sophomore right-hander Taylor Widener pitched a perfect ninth inning to earn a save on Tuesday at The Citadel and followed that up with one inning of work with just one hit and one unearned run allowed in the 13-7 win at Mississippi State. Widener is 1-2 with a 3.24 ERA in 16.2 innings with 25 strikeouts to nine walks. His seven saves tie him for second in the SEC.

Junior infielder DC Arendas drove in a season-high three runs in the 13-7 win at Mississippi State. Arendas also hit his first homer in Friday’s 7-5 loss. For the season he is batting .235 (16-for-68) with a .442 on-base percentage.

Senior right-hander Cody Mincey pitched a career-high four scoreless innings of relief and struck out a career-high seven batters to earn a win in the 2-0 victory at The Citadel last Tuesday. Mincey has 13 strikeouts in 13.0 innings pitched with eight relief appearances. Opponents are hitting .233 against him. He had 0.1 scoreless innings in the 7-5 loss on Friday vs. MSU.

Sophomore catcher Logan Koch went 2-for-3 vs. Mississippi State in the 7-5 loss and followed that up with a double and a run scored in the 13-7 win at MSU.

Junior left-hander Vince Fiori leads the Gamecocks with 16 relief appearances on the year. Fiori is 2-0 with a 1.80 ERA in 20.0 innings with 21 strikeouts to 12 walks. Opponents are hitting .179 against him.

Freshman infielder Madison Stokes was 1-for-2 with a RBI in the 2-0 win at The Citadel and 2-for-5 with a run scored in the 13-7 win at Mississippi State.

Freshman right-hander Tyler Haswell pitched four scoreless innings in his second career start in the 2-0 win at The Citadel. Haswell has a 2.16 ERA in 8.1 innings with eight strikeouts and opponents batting .179 against him.

Junior infielder Marcus Mooney had a two-run double and scored two runs in the 13-7 win at Mississippi State. It was Mooney’s first multi-RBI game of the year. Mooney has four doubles on the year and scored 12 runs as well.

Sophomore infielder Jordan Gore has raised his batting average to .292 (31-for-106) on the year and a .358 on-base percentage. Gore has 13 RBI to go along with 19 runs scored.

For the season, South Carolina pitchers own a team ERA of 3.06. The Gamecocks have allowed 127 runs, 99 earned, on 253 hits in 291.0 innings with 119 walks to 272 strikeouts. Opponents are batting .236 against the Gamecocks. South Carolina’s ERA ranks fifth-best in the SEC with batters struck out fifth-best as well.

South Carolina is hitting .262 (277-for-1058) as a team with 187 runs scored, a .358 on-base percentage and a .377 slugging mark. The Gamecocks are fielding .969 for the year.

South Carolina is 20-3 on the year when allowing five runs or less. South Carolina is 19-3 on the year with a lead entering the seventh innings. The Gamecocks are 17-3 when allowing less than 10 hits, 9-3 when recording double-digit hits and 14-1 when out-hitting its opponent. South Carolina is 11-8 in games decided by three runs or less.

THIS WEEK
4/7/15 – Appalachian State – 7 p.m.
4/8/15 – The Citadel – 7 p.m.
4/10/15 – at Florida – 7 p.m.
4/11/15 – at Florida – 6 p.m.
4/12/15 – at Florida – Noon
All times are eastern