Defense, young arms huge in Gamecocks' sweep over Tennessee

KNOXVILLE—Alex Destino admitted after Sunday’s 10-2 win over Tennessee he saw Adam Jones rob Manny Machado of a home run during the World Baseball Classic.

Jones made a reaching grab at the wall in Saturday’s game, a play not unlike what Destino did in the third inning of Sunday’s game.

With Jordan Rodgers ripping what looked like a standup double to left field, Destino sprinted over to the wall and made a full-extension play to snag the ball and rob Rodgers of extra bases.

“I don’t know if I can be put in the same category as his play, but I saw it last night,” Destino said, chuckling. “That riled us up a little bit in the hotel room.”

The grab in left was part of a long line of defensive plays that vaulted the Gamecocks to the game three victory behind three freshmen pitchers. Destino, who is splitting time at designated hitter and left field, was a perfect 5-for-5 on putouts in left field and didn’t have an error in three starts there this weekend.

“Alex doesn’t get a lot of credit, but he’s not a bad defender. He’s not gong to outrun the ball but he’ll catch it and make a play here or there,” head coach Chad Holbrook said. “He made a play at Vanderbilt last year and that was a pretty good play today.”

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His leaping grab was outdone an inning before, though, when Madison Stokes, LT Tolbert and Matt Williams combined for a smooth double play to end the second inning with runners on first and second.

Stokes flipped the ball out of his glove to Tolbert, who barehanded the ball and threw to Williams, who dug it out of the ground to complete the play.

“That was pretty sweet. We may be seeing that tonight is what I was telling them,” Destino said, flashing a smile. “I think that was pretty sweet. They take the cake for that one.”

The two plays Sunday joined a long line of great defensive plays the Gamecocks made throughout the weekend between a Jacob Olson diving grab and Danny Blair fielding slicing fly balls in center easily.

As always, Jonah Bride makes playing the hot corner look effortless.

“I tell our guys all the time if you pitch and play defense you have a chance to win and have a chance to pile wins on top of each other if you stay consistent in those two areas,” Holbrook said. “You’re not always going to hit, but if you pitch and play defense that’s kind of our motto and that’s what our program’s built on.”

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The defense helped lead the Gamecocks to their first three-game sweep of the year, first win on Sunday since the regional last postseason and a 10-2 drubbing of Tennessee behind three freshmen pitchers.

Redshirt freshman Cody Morris started the game and pitched 3.2 innings before being relieved by true freshmen Sawyer Bridges and Colby Lee.

All three made their first career SEC appearance Sunday, combining to give up just two runs on six hits while striking out 12 and walking four.

“We still have confidence in those guys even though they don’t have many innings. We still believe in them and they came out and showed it,” Stokes said. “They pitched their butts off and pitched the way we know they can pitch.”

Lee came in for his second career appearance, his first in SEC play and didn’t disappoint. He mowed down Volunteer hitters in three perfect innings, his only blemish coming on a one-out double in the ninth inning.

He struck out a career-high five batters.

“That was impressive to watch. It’s fun to play behind him and Sawyer; both came in ready to pitch,” Stokes said. “I think he did a fantastic job. He threw the ball with confidence, he was relaxed like he was enjoying himself.”

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Lee, in just his second career appearance, picked up the win and could be vying for added innings, he hopes. He said he knew there was a chance he could pitch today and was excited to pitch.

“I was just ready, man,” Lee said. “I was really anxious to get in there. I was excited to get in the game.”

With All-Americans Clarke Schmidt and Tyler Johnson still rehabbing from injury, the Gamecocks could turn to these younger arms during their absence. Sunday’s game could give the freshmen the added confidence to perform when their numbers are called.

“Anytime you win an SEC weekend against what I think is a good Tennessee team with three freshmen pitching, we’ll take that,” Destino said. “We got three got guys that’ll come back next week confident in what they did this weekend.”