South Carolina kept its fall momentum rolling Friday night at Segra Park, turning a fast start into an 8-2 win over College of Charleston in baseball scrimmage action.
The Gamecocks scored five runs in the first three innings and backed that up with a staff effort that piled up 17 strikeouts while allowing just five hits. Connor Shouse was right in the middle of it all, going 2-for-3 with three RBIs and then coming back to throw a scoreless ninth inning.
First-year head coach Kevin Schnall liked the way his lineup set the tone early, especially at the top.
"It really came down to exactly what happened last game, JD Stein and (Andrew) Costello bunching those quality at-bats," Schnall said.
Stein opened the game with a full-count walk, then moved to third on Costello’s single to right. Shouse and Luke Costello followed with RBI ground outs, and South Carolina had a 2-0 lead before the inning was over.
The Gamecocks kept stretching it in the third. Andrew Costello drove in a run with a single, Slaide Burd drew a leadoff walk, and Shouse then lined a triple into the gap in right-center to bring home two more runs. Stein had been hit by a pitch, and Costello also scored on the play as South Carolina pushed the margin to 5-0.
Nine pitchers worked in the game for the Gamecocks, and seven of them - Jordan Stephens, Carter Harrington, Brandon Stone, Luke Jones, Brandon Cromer, Parker Marlatt and Shouse - threw scoreless innings. Colby Richardson and Nic Gibson each allowed a run.
Jones struck out three, while Stephens, Richardson, Stone, Cromer, Marlatt and Shouse each had two strikeouts.
Schnall said the outing had both encouraging pieces and some rough edges.
"Some good things and some bad things," Schnall said of his pitching staff. "Stephens, we put two runs on the board and he goes out and goes 1-2-3, and that's really important.
Our left-handed pitchers have to get better. They didn't throw well tonight.
The two innings they scored, they had two free (passes), seven frees on the night, four wild pitch/passed balls. You can't win games if we're going to do that.
But the reverse is we also struck out 17. If we're playing a Regional final game, seven frees and four wild pitches/passed balls, you don't win those games."
South Carolina added to its lead with a sacrifice fly from Jackson Winer in the sixth, then tacked on two more in the eighth. Bristol Carter reached on an infield single to first base to score Miles Keogh, who had doubled on a ground ball up the middle in his first at-bat. Ethan Bass followed with an RBI ground out in his first trip to the plate.
"We did some good things," Schnall said. "On Shouse's triple to right, Duce had a really good read to go first to third base.
The first to thirds were really good. I thought we laid down some solid bunts, but in one inning, we had four bunt attempts and four foul balls.
The short game is something we have to be really good at and the base running; those two things have to show up every day."
The Gamecocks finished with 10 hits, with Andrew Costello and Shouse collecting two apiece. Stein reached base twice as well.
There was one uneasy moment late when outfielder Tyler Bak left after hurting his shoulder while diving back into first base on an attempted pickoff. Schnall did not have an immediate update, though Bak was back on the field after the game signing autographs for young fans.