Gamecocks building toward consistency at plate

It’s been an up-and-down start at the plate for South Carolina this season. One game, they can rattle off 10 hits and 11 runs and the next struggle to scratch across one over nine innings.

While some of it is early-season kinks and the caliber of pitching the Gamecocks (5-3) have faced over their opening eight games. Regardless of the reason, head coach Chad Holbrook said there is room for improvement across the board.

The team is hitting .273 (33-for-121) with runners not in scoring position and .236 (21-for-89) with runners in scoring position. The Gamecocks are also 3-for-10 (.300) with the bases loaded, including going hitless in four opportunities against Kansas State.

“We need to be smarter,” Holbrook said. “We need to make sure we’re aggressive on pitches in the strike zone and disciplined enough to be selective on pitches outside of the strike zone. Right now, our guys are a little bit caught in between.”

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The Gamecocks have struck out 52 times to start the season, averaging 6.5 punch-outs per game. That peaked against Kansas State Thursday with the lineup whiffing a season-high 11 times.

Collectively, the team is hitting .278 with an on-base percentage of .358. Holbrook said he’d like some more production from the middle of the lineup, which rotates between Jacob Olson, Chris Cullen, Matt Williams and Madison Stokes.

The four are a combined 25-for-90 (.278) with Cullen sputtering to start the season, hitting 2-for-16 through his first six games.

The four backup No. 3 hitter Alex Destino, who relies on a good cleanup hitter to take the pressure of him. If the cleanup hitter is struggling, Destino will likely see unhittable pitches because the opposing team is pitching around him.

Of the Gamecocks 37 runs scored this season, he’s driven in a team-high nine of them. He also has the second-best average on the team (.323) behind Danny Blair, and is slugging a team-best .581.

“We got to get some folks in there protecting Destino,” Holbrook said. “We for sure have some guys in there that are talented and should be able to do it. I got a lot of faith in our guys, got a lot of faith in our team.”

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Cullen and Stokes got off to slower starts this season, combining for three hits in their first 26 at-bats. TJ Hopkins also missed time this week working through a hip flexor injury, Holbrook said.

Hopkins went 3-for-12 this weekend against Wright State, and Holbrook said he will get better with more plate appearances. He also said he’s not worried about Cullen, who did not start the last two games against the Raiders.

“The game of baseball is one in which sometimes you try awfully hard and you try too hard and you can have negative results. I can tell you it’s not from lack of trying from them,” Holbrook said. “They’re good players. They need to have some success and some balls land for them. We need those guys, because they’re good players.”

Stokes, who started the year cold, has been blazing hot the last four games. Since going 0-for-4 against UNC Charlotte, he’s 7-for-16 with two doubles and a home run.

He hit cleanup in Saturday’s 10-5 win and in the two-hole behind TJ Hopkins in Sunday’s 5-1 defeat.

“He’s been in the strike zone a lot more than he was early in the year,” Holbrook said. “He was more disciplined this weekend and I think it showed. I have some explosive guys. And if they attack pitches that are in the strike zone, they can do some damage.”

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Jonah Bride, who is hitting .167 (2-for-12) with two strikeouts this season, said the team needs to be better in their approach with two strikes and trying to go opposite field down in the count.

Holbrook said the team is going to focus more on staying in the strike zone and staying disciplined at the plate.

“I tell them all the time you can’t confuse aggressiveness with stupidity,” Holbrook said. “And sometimes we’re chasing some pitches were we can’t put the bat on the ball and that’s putting us in the hole.”