Baseball Defeats Charleston Southern 3-0 on Wednesday
March 22, 2017
COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina sophomore right-hander Graham Lawson pitched five scoreless innings and combined with relievers John Parke, Reed Scott and Colie Bowers for a five-hit shutout and a three-run fifth inning led fourth ranked South Carolina (15-5) defeated Charleston Southern (11-7) 3-0 on Wednesday night at Founders Park.
Lawson earned his second win of the season after he allowed just two hits and struck out two batters in the longest outing of his career. Parke followed with two strikeouts and allowed one hit in 1.2 innings of work. Scott gave up two hits in one inning of relief and senior right-hander Bowers pitched 1.1 hitless innings of relief with one strikeout to earn his second save of the season. Buccaneers’ right-hander Tyler Weekley suffered the loss after giving up two runs on five hits in 4.1 innings pitched and is now 2-2 on the year.
South Carolina broke ahead 3-0 in the fifth inning. LT Tolbert and Madison Stokes opened the frame with back-to-back singles and Stokes stole second to give Carolina runners in scoring position for Hunter Taylor, who lifted a sacrifice fly to center to score Tolbert. Destino added a RBI single to score Stokes and with the bases loaded, Jacob Olson walked to bring Matt Williams home.
GAME CHANGER
The three-run fifth inning gave the Gamecocks a lead they would not relinquish.
KEY STAT
Four Gamecocks pitchers combined for a nine scoreless innings, giving up only five singles.
NOTABLES
• Four out of Hunter Taylor’s 11 hits this season have been doubles. He went 2-for-3 at the plate with one RBI.
• Jonah Bride extended his hitting streak to eight games. He went 1-for-2 on the night.
• Matt Williams has safely reached base in 18 consecutive games. He went 0-for-2 with one walk and was hit by a pitch.
•South Carolina recorded its second shutout of the season. The Gamecocks also had a shutout on March 4 with a 2-0 win at Clemson.
QUOTABLE
Head Coach Chad Holbrook “It was a good win. I don’t think we were at our best, but Charleston Southern had a lot to do with that. They threw their good arms at us, and I was very impressed with their team, especially their pitchers. Graham [Lawson] got us off to a good start and threw the ball extremely well and Colie [Bowers] finished it up. Reed [Scott] got us some big outs. It was a well-pitched game on both sides. Luckily we pitched and played really good defense and put together that one inning and it was good enough to get us a win. I told the team after the game that Charleston Southern could go on with their pitching staff and have a really good year, they’re already 11-6. It’s good to beat opponents that have winning records when it comes NCAA tournament time. Hopefully they’ll go on and have a really good year, and that’ll be another feather in our cap at the end. I’m thankful for the win, but we certainly weren’t at our best and a lot of that had to do with how Charleston Southern played and the pitchers they threw against us. So all in all I’m happy, we’ll have a good workout tomorrow and then get ready for the weekend. “
UP NEXT
South Carolina is back in action on Friday, March 24 at 7 p.m. for the first game in the three-game series with Alabama at Founders Park. It will be broadcast live on SEC Network Plus. The game can also be heard on the Gamecock IMG Network including flagship station, 107.5 FM, “The Game.”
