May 12, 2015

Box Score | Photo Gallery

COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina belted out 18 hits en route to a 17-0 victory over USC Upstate on Tuesday night at Carolina Stadium. The Gamecocks improve to 31-22 while loss drops the Spartans to 15-35.

John Parke earned the win and improves to 2-0 on the years. The sophomore left-hander allowed just two hits and two walks while striking out three batters in 3.1 innings of work. USC Upstate starter Eric Birklund suffered the loss and is 1-4 on the year. He allowed four runs on a hit in 2.2 innings with five walks.

The Gamecocks went ahead 4-0 with a four-run third inning. With two outs, a pair of walks to Gene Cone and Kyle Martin and a single by Marcus Mooney loaded the bases. Elliott Caldwell and Alex Destino followed with back-to-back walks to bring home Cone and Mooney before Hunter Taylor doubled to left field scoring both Martin and Caldwell.

South Carolina added five more runs in the bottom of the fourth to take a 9-0 lead. Madison Stokes opened the frame with a single to left field and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Clark Scolamiero drove in Stokes with a RBI single and Cone followed with a base hit before Mooney drove in Scolamiero with a sacrifice fly to left field. After Martin drew a walk to put two runner in scoring position, Alex Destino launched a three-run homer over the wall in right-center. It was his sixth homer of the year.

The Gamecocks increased their lead to 12-0 in the bottom of the sixth as Taylor and Stokes combined for three RBI. South Carolina added to its lead with a five-run eighth inning. Weber Pike led of with a single to right field and Stokes and Scolamiero both added base hits to load the bases. Patrick Harrington brought home Pike with RBI single through the left side and Jordan Gore followed with a three-run double to score Stokes, Scolamiero and Harrington. Collin Steagall drove in Gore with a RBI single to left-center.

GAME CHANGER
South Carolina scored four runs in the third inning and never trailed.

KEY STAT
South Carolina out-hit USC Upstate 17-5.

NOTABLES
• Canaan Cropper worked three scoreless innings while allowing just three hits and one walk while striking out three batters in his first career start. The three innings and three strikeouts were both career-highs for Cropper. • Alex Destino tied his career-high with four RBI in a game. • Hunter Taylor tied his career-high with three RBI in a game • All nine of the Gamecocks position starters reached base at least once. • Madison Stokes tied career-highs with two hits and two RBIs. • The Gamecocks tallied a season-high 17 runs and 17 RBI. • 15 of South Carolina’s 17 runs were scored with two outs. • This is the Gamecocks’ seventh shutout victory of the season.

QUOTABLE
Head Coach Chad Holbrook Obviously it was a good night for us. Canaan (Cropper) got us off to a good start on the mound and pitched fairly well. I don’t think his command is quite back to where it will be soon, but he had good life on his pitches. His velocity was good and he’s bouncing back nicely from having a year off for Tommy John surgery, so that was encouraging for us. We played good defense again and swung the bats well. I think we brought the momentum that we found last week. I think the guys are a little bit more confident than they’ve been. (They) put together some good at bats, played good defense and our pitching was good today. So, it was a great mid-week game for us as we head into the weekend.

UP NEXT
South Carolina hosts LSU in a three-game SEC series beginning on Thursday with first pitch set for 7 p.m. The game will be televised on the SEC Network and can be heard on the Gamecock IMG Network including flagship station, 107.5 FM, “The Game.”