Baseball Uses Quality Pitching, Big Inning to Defeat The Citadel
April 10, 2018
CHARLESTON, S.C. – Jacob Olson knocked in a career best five runs and Carmen Mlodzinski pitched five strong innings as the University of South Carolina baseball team defeated The Citadel, 12-1, Tuesday night (April 10) at Joe Riley Park.
Olson was 2-for-3 with three runs scored and the five RBI, while Chris Cullen had three hits and two runs scored. Carlos Cortes, Madison Stokes and Riley Hogan had two hits apiece as the Carolina offense belted out 13 hits on the night.
Mlodzinski had career highs in innings pitched and strikeouts (5), allowing just two hits in the outing. Parker Coyne, Graham Lawson and Corey Stone finished out the game with Lawson striking out a pair of Bulldogs.
Carolina opened the scoring in the third as Cortes singled to right to score Olson. LT Tolbert brought in Cullen on a groundout, giving the Gamecocks a 2-0 lead. Carolina added two more runs in the fourth as Olson belted a two-run home run to left, his team-leading ninth of the season.
The two teams traded runs in the sixth as Stokes hit his sixth home run of the year in his first start since March 24. The Gamecocks exploded for seven runs in the seventh, the most runs in an inning by Carolina this season. Olson had the big hit in the frame, a bases-clearing double to the gap in left.
GAMECHANGER
South Carolina scored seven runs in the seventh frame on six hits with run-scoring singles from Cortes, Justin Row and Stokes and a three-run double by Olson.
KEY STAT
Carmen Mlodzinski pitched five innings to earn his first career win, striking out five and walking just one.
NOTABLE
- Jacob Olson set a career-high in RBI with five, breaking his old record of four, which was set at The Citadel on March 27, 2017.
- The seven-run seventh frame was the most runs in an inning by the Gamecocks this season. Carolina recently had a six-run frame last Saturday at Kentucky.
- Madison Stokes made his first start since March 24 in the win. Stokes homered and drove in two runs for the Gamecocks.
- Chris Cullen tied a career high with three hits in tonight’s win. Cullen was 3-for-4 with two runs scored in the victory.
UP NEXT
South Carolina heads to Fayetteville, Ark., and the University of Arkansas for a three-game series beginning Thursday night (April 12) at 6 p.m. CDT (7 p.m. EDT).
