Baseball Falls 6-5 to Kansas State on Thursday
Feb. 23, 2017
COLUMBIA, S.C. – Alex Destino homered for a second straight game and Madison Stokes tied a career high with three hits, but a four-run first inning helped lift Kansas State to 6-5 win over fourth ranked South Carolina at Founders Park on Thursday afternoon. The Gamecocks drop to 3-2 on the year while Kansas State moves to 4-1.
Right-hander Jared Marolf threw 1.2 innings and allowed two runs on three hits to earn the win for the Wildcats, while left-hander Jordan Floyd picked up his third save of the season after throwing 1.1 scoreless innings with just one hit allowed and one strikeout. South Carolina junior left-hander John Parke suffered the loss and is now 0-1 on the year. He allowed four runs on three hits with three walks and one strikeout in 0.2 innings of work.
Kansas State struck first and took a 4-0 lead in the top of the first as Parke walked Cameron Thompson and Jake Wodtke. Jake Scudder drove in Thompson with a one-out double to left center, followed by Quintin Crandall’s RBI sacrifice fly and Josh Rolette’s RBI single to right field. With the bases loaded and two outs, the Wildcats added one more run as Josh Ethier walked to bring in Rolette.
South Carolina answered in the bottom of the third inning when Alex Destino launched a two-run homer to right field to cut the deficit to a pair of runs.
Scudder gave Kansas State a 6-2 lead in the top of the fourth as answered with a two-out two-run homer to left field. The Gamecocks would cut the Wildcats’ lead to 6-3 in the bottom of the fourth loading the bases with no outs with Stokes scoring on a double play ball.
With two outs and runners on second and third in the bottom of the fifth, Madison Stokes hit a RBI double down the left field line to add a run for Carolina. LT Tolbert followed it up with a RBI single to pull the Gamecocks within one run of the Wildcats.
Gamecock right-hander Reed Scott kept the Gamecocks in the game as he allowed just one run on three hits in 5.1 innings of relief with a walk and three strikeouts. The Gamecocks would load the bases in the seventh inning but Kansas State worked itself out of the jam with a flyout to center off the bat of Jonah Bride. Bride was robbed earlier in the game as well in the fifth inning when a line drive fell into the hands of a diving Will Brennan in left field.
GAME CHANGER
The four-run first inning for Kansas State gave them a lead they would not relinquish.
KEY STAT
South Carolina was 0-for-4 with the bases loaded and 2-for-10 at the plate in RBI opportunities.
NOTABLES
• Madison Stokes tied his career-high in hits with three as he went 3-for-5 with one RBI. He last had three hits on June 7, 2016 vs. UNCW in the NCAA Regional.
• Alex Destino leads the Gamecocks with two homers and eight RBI on the year.
• LT Tolbert went 2-for-3 with a RBI, his first multi-hit game of the season.
QUOTABLE FROM SOUTH CAROLINA HEAD COACH Chad Holbrook
“Well it was a disappointing loss, obviously, giving up four runs in the first inning. We were behind the eight ball from the get go. We fought back to try to get in it and certainly had our fair share of opportunities, with the bases loaded, one out and hit into a double play. Jonah [Bride] hit in some bad luck with a line drive right at the left fielder there, that could have tied the game up. We laced some balls pretty good that were caught here and there. We put ourselves in a hole and couldn’t dig out of it. So it’s a disappointing loss. At the same time, saw some encouraging things. Reed [Scott] continues to pitch his tail off. We did some pretty good things defensively, and we had some good at bats in there, competitive at bats. It just wasn’t enough throughout the game or enough to come back from a 4-0 deficit, how we got started. We’ll pick up the pieces and get ready to play a really good Wright State team tomorrow.” UP NEXT
South Carolina will be back in action this weekend at Founders Park as they host Wright State for a three-game series. First pitch is set for Friday at 7 p.m. It will be broadcast live on SEC Network +. The game can be heard on the Gamecock IMG Network including flagship station, 107.5 FM, “The Game.”
