By: Sinderella
South Carolina continued their winning ways by sweeping two midweek games, Tuesday vs. Winthrop and Wednesday vs. Queens. South Carolina won those games how they have won every game so far in the early season: they used opportunistic, patient small-ball offense, paired with dominant pitching to run-rule their opponents for the third straight time in just five games.
Winthrop:
Eddie Copper got the start and was fantastic in the first start of his career, going four innings with one hit and no earned runs. The bullpen behind him came in and shut everyone down, outside of Austin Williamson, who didn't have his best stuff and gave up two runs.
The offense used 11 walks and some big-time hitting from Talmadge LeCroy and Tyler Causey, as they both had a homerun and a double to drive in 5 of the 12 runs. I also want to give a shoutout to Dylan Brewer and Will Tippett. Both have been tremendous early this season with doing the dirty work, driving in runs in unconventional ways by bringing in four runs combined, Tippett producing three without even getting a hit. South Carolina wins 12-2, shortened to seven innings by run-rule.
Queens:
Matthew Becker got the start, and he had a very solid outing as he works his way back from a minor lat strain. His stat line looked great, going two innings with 0 hits and 5 strikeouts. He allowed a few players to get on in both innings but quickly shutdown the next few batters.
Outside of a trio of solo homeruns from Queens, all seven South Carolina pitchers shut down Queens to a tune of 17 strikeouts. The offense was led by a couple of homeruns from Cole Messina and Ethan Petry to dominate Queens. True freshman Ryan Bakes got his first career start and was fantastic, going 3-4 with three RBIs and two walks. The offense as a whole used a patient plate approach, walking 15 times. That included a string of four walks, a single, and a hit batter, all with 2 outs in the bottom of the 8th that ended the 13-3 game by run-rule.
Be sure to check back here on collegebaseballcentral.net for a preview for the upcoming Belmont series.
(All pictures courtesy of @GamecockBll)
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