A day after watching Clarke Schmidt carve up Michigan State, Wil Crowe wanted to join in on the fun.
He did, locking down a potent Spartan lineup for the second straight day as the Gamecocks clinched the series after a 5-2 win.
“Wil got in a little bit of a rhythm there. He had a great fastball early. Then he started pitching in the middle innings, using all his pitches. His changeup was really big on the left-handed hitters,” head coach Chad Holbrook said. “His breaking ball was pretty consistent the whole game. I guess we struck out 11 and walked three, another good walk to strikeout ratio, building on what we did last night. Wil was terrific and Josh was terrific.”
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The junior righty was dominant from jump against the Spartans, starting with a 1-2-3 inning. He finished allowing just three hits over 6.2 innings. He struck out nine, tying a season high he had against Wright State.
He’s now started 3-0 for the second time in his career, the first being his freshman year in 2014.
“I had a good fastball control, so I was able to spot up my fastball some. I was kind of wild there, but I think it was effectively wild, that’s what they say,” Crowe said. “That was working for me. I threw some good off-speed, some good changeup, some good curveballs. I didn’t have my best off-speed stuff tonight, but I was able to manage.”
Crowe gave at most one run for the third time in four starts. The only run came on a solo home run in the second inning from Alex Troop. He allowed a single the batter after Troop’s bomb, but didn’t give up another until the seventh inning.
“I think I was trying to throw a two-seam and I got behind it and it kind of rose and stayed middle and he put a good swing on it. I just wanted to work on my spotting and try to hit my spots and stay down in the zone,” Crowe said. “I threw it probably dead middle and chest high, so it wasn’t a great pitch at all. I just wanted to stay down in the zone and really throw my pitches with authority.”
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After the homer, he sat down 14 of last 19 batters he faced. While striking out a season-high, he also pitched heavily to contact. Of the 20 outs he recorded, seven were ground balls.
He also got out of a few jams pitching to contact. In the fifth inning, Crowe had runners on the corners with one out, he induced a pop up and a strikeout to hold Michigan State to no runs in the inning.
After he got out of the half inning, the Gamecocks busted the game open with a three-run inning to make it 5-1 and coast the rest of the way.
“When I’m throwing like that I really just want to keep the game going, keep it fast-paced so the guys out there who are playing behind me keep their feet under them and really kind of keep the game going,” he said. “I really wanted to get out there, get some pitches in, get them back in the dugout so we can score some more.”
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Saturday was Crowe’s last start before SEC play. He finished non-conference play 3-0 with a 2.25 ERA. He is tied with Clarke Schmidt for the most strikeouts on the team with 31. Batters are hitting .163 against him.
His next expected start comes a week from Saturday against Tennessee. Crowe grew up in Sevierville, Tennessee roughly 30 miles from the Volunteers’ campus.
Coming into his somewhat homecoming next weekend, Crowe is firing on all cylinders and hopes to continue that in front of a family-rich crowd in Tennessee.
“It’ll be good. A lot of friends and some family will be there so I’m ready for that experience,” Crowe said. “It’s been a while since I got to pitch in Knoxville, in that area, so it’ll be good to see all my friends and family. Hopefully it’ll be a nice little crowd and we can coe out with a win today.”
