April 13, 2016
CHARLOTTE – Sophomore left-hander Hunter Williams pitched 6.1 scoreless innings and 13th ranked North Carolina belted out 11 hits on the way to a 15-0 victory over second ranked South Carolina on Wednesday night at BB&T Ballpark. The Gamecocks are now 28-6 on the year with North Carolina 24-9 for the season.
Williams scattered six hits and walked one while striking out four batters. He is now 3-0 on the year. South Carolina starter Taylor Widener suffered the loss and is 1-2 for the season. He allowed three runs on a hit with three walks and four strikeouts in 3.2 innings of work.
North Carolina broke ahead 3-0 in the top of the fourth inning. Brian Miller led off with a walk followed by a walk to Adam Pate. After a two-out walk to Brandon Riley loaded the bases, Eli Sutherland knocked a 2-0 pitch to left-center to clear the bases and give the Tar Heels a three-run lead.
The Tar Heels extended the lead to 6-0 in the fifth inning. Tyler Ramirez would drive in a pair with a two-out RBI double and Brandon Riley added a RBI single. They would add five more runs in the seventh as well as three in the ninth.
GAME CHANGER
After a two-out walk loaded the bases in the third inning, Eli Sutherland knocked a bases clearing double to left-center to give North Carolina a three-run lead.
KEY STAT
The Gamecocks walked a season-high 10 batters in Wednesday’s loss.
NOTABLES
Gene Cone extended his hitting streak to 20 games with a base hit in the bottom of the fourth inning. He has also reached base in 23 consecutive contests.
Alex Destino’s hitting streak was snapped at 21 games.
Attendance was 10,205, the largest crowd to watch a regular season college game in the state of North Carolina.
QUOTABLE
Head Coach Chad Holbrook
It was just a disappointing night. You have to give credit to North Carolina. They got off to a good start. When they got six or seven runs, we knew it was going to be a tough road to come back on those guys. Maybe we could have kept it a little bit closer if we had put some different guys in the game, but they out performed us in a big-time way. I have to tip my hat to them. They roughed up [Taylor] Widener there in the fourth. We were a pitch away from getting out of that inning then maybe it is a little bit different of a game. They performed at a high level tonight and we didn’t. That’s the bottom line. A loss is a loss. They’re all hard. Losing like this is certainly never easy, especially in this game, but it’s just one game that counts for one. We have to put it behind us and get ready for an important weekend in front of us.
UP NEXT
South Carolina heads to Athens, Ga. for a three-game SEC series vs. Georgia. First pitch on Friday is set for 7 p.m. at Foley Field. The game will be broadcast on SEC Network Plus and can be heard on the Gamecock IMG Network including flagship station, 107.5 FM, “The Game.”
