Baseball Defeats Wright State 4-3 in Series Opener
Feb. 24, 2017
COLUMBIA, S.C. – Alex Destino’s two-out double in the bottom of the seventh inning broke a 3-3 tie and three Gamecock pitchers combined for 16 strikeouts as fourth ranked South Carolina defeated No. 25 Wright State 4-3 on Friday night at Founders Park. Carolina improves to 4-2 on the year, while the Raiders drop to 2-2.
After TJ Hopkins drew a two-out walk in the bottom of the seventh, Destino delivered a double to the gap in left center to drive in Hopkins and give the Gamecocks a one-run cushion.
Right-hander Colie Bowers earned the win in relief and is now 2-0 on the year after allowing no hits and one strikeout in one inning of work. Junior right-hander Tyler Johnson struck out the side in the top of the ninth to earn his second save of the year. Wright State right-hander Jason Foster suffered the loss and is 1-1 for the season. He allowed one run on one hit with one strikeout and one walk in 1.2 innings pitched.
Carolina broke ahead 2-0 in the bottom of the first inning. Following singles by Hopkins and Destino and a wild pitch to advance the runners, Matt Williams drove in both runners with a single to center field.
Madison Stokes added a run for South Carolina in the bottom of the fourth when he launched a solo homerun to left field, giving the Gamecocks a 3-0 lead.
A dropped pop up would lead to three unearned runs for Wright State in the top of the fifth inning.
South Carolina junior right-hander Clarke Schmidt threw 6.1 innings and tied a career-high with 11 strikeouts in a no-decision. He walked one and allowed three unearned runs on four hits.
GAME CHANGER
Alex Destino’s one RBI double to left center gave the Gamecocks a lead they would not relinquish.
KEY STAT
Alex Destino and Madison Stokes led the Gamecocks at the plate, as Destino went 2-for-3 with one RBI and Stokes went 2-for-4 with one RBI on a solo home run.
NOTABLES
• Madison Stokes hit his first home run of the season and second of his career. His first home run was on May 14, 2016 vs. Texas A&M.
• Schmidt last had 11 strikeouts on March 18, 2016, vs. Arkansas.
• Right-hander Tyler Johnson’s three strikeouts were in just 12 pitches with 10 being strikes.
• Matt Williams’ recorded his first multi-RBI game of his career.
QUOTABLE FROM SOUTH CAROLINA HEAD COACH Chad Holbrook
“Obviously it was a big win for us for a number of reasons. We were fortunate to beat a really good team. Clarke [Schmidt] was phenomenal. All of our pitchers, Clarke [Schmidt], Colie [Bowers], Josh [Reagan] and Tyler [Johnson] were incredible. We let them back in the game with a couple miscues, but we kept our wits about us and found a way to win. Destino got us that big hit there to get us another run. If we have a lead, we feel good about where we’re at with Josh and Tyler coming in the game. We’re kind of set up when it goes like that. We can play better, but we’re playing a really good team. We’re fortunate to win with the mistakes that we made, but I’m also proud of the team to find a way to win when it very easily could have gone the other way.”
UP NEXT
Game two of the three game series with Wright State is slated for tomorrow at 4 p.m. at Founders Park. 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.”
