If there was ever a time in non-conference play for South Carolina to notch a sweep it was this weekend.
The Gamecocks just lost an emotional series to Clemson last weekend on the road and, with SEC play looming next weekend, needed something to go right for momentum's sake against Cornell.
They got it, dominating the series and ending it with a 6-1 victory Sunday to complete the sweep.
“I think it’s good for your mojo. You want to create momentum. When good things happen and guys have good at bats and you get wins and you can go back in the locker room and feel good about it, it’s always good," Mark Kingston said. "It’s a disappointment last week but I think we’ve moved on. This was a very productive week for us, especially for our pitching.”
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Starter Brannon Jordan continued his fantastic beginning to this season, pitching five near-shutout innings Sunday while adding 10 more strikeouts to his already team lead.
He'd finish giving up one run, allowing just three base runners on the day while striking out 10. After an inefficient start on the road at Clemson (90 pitches, 52 strikes), he'd throw 65 pitches in five innings with 49 called strikes.
“I wasn’t great against Clemson," he said. "My focus was to come in, throw strikes and get quick outs and locate my fastball and slider. I went with that all day. I had a good game plan, good results and got it done.”
The 10 strikeouts are a career high for Jordan (2-0) and he's now struck out at least nine in three of his four starts as he and the other starters—Carmen Mlodzinski and Thomas Farr—combined to strike out 21 and walk eight with a 1.10 ERA against Cornell.
Through four starts this year, Jordan has a 1.71 ERA and is sporting a .762 WHIP with batters slashing .104/.193/.169 against him this year.
“Brannon did exactly what basically every pitcher this week did. We have a plan. We executed the plan and had a lot of success with it," Kingston said. "It’s really good to see him bounce back with his command this week. Five innings on 65 pitches? That’s really good stuff.”
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The offense, as it has most of the weekend, took advantage of three home runs to cruise to a win.
Brady Allen launched his second of the season in the second inning before coming around to score the go-ahead run in the fourth before Jeff Heinrich padded the lead in the fifth with a solo shot to left-center.
Andrew Eyster busted the game wide open with a three-run shot in the sixth, finishing his day 2-for-3 and pushed his season RBI total to double digits with 10.
The Gamecocks (11-4) finished with nine hits, including four for extra bases: one double, no triples and three home runs.
“Power starts to show up a little bit more now that it starts to warm up. Hopefully we’ll start to get some warmer weather," Kingston said. "This is one of the few games we’ve played this year where the wind wasn’t blowing in to hold up balls. We got into some balls and guys got rewarded."
The bullpen, which has been solid since the Clemson series put itself into a few jams but got out of every single one to keep Cornell capped at one run.
Four different pitchers—TJ Shook, Danny Lloyd, Brett Thomas and Brett Kerry pitched an inning apiece to end the game, combining to give up three hits, one walk and six strikeouts to end a weekend where the bullpen only allowed three runs in 10.2 innings of work.
“It helps us out a ton. We’re one of the best team in the country when we come in and throw strikes. All our stuff is really good, especially in the bullpen. We have a lot of high-quality arms. When those guys come in and fill up the zone and pound it, we have a really good chance to win. it gives me the most confidence going in throwing five innings today,” Jordan said. “When those guys are good, they’re really good.”
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Player of the game: Outside of two batters—a single and a RBI double to start the third—Brannon Jordan was dominant. He'd average just 13 pitches an inning over his five-inning, 10-strikeout performance and finishes non-conference play with
Pivotal moment: TJ Shook worked himself into a jam as the first guy out of the pen, putting two on with one out but struck out the next two batters on eight pitches to get out of the jam and set the stage for Eyster to break things open the following half inning.
Up next: The Gamecocks are on spring break and host The Citadel Tuesday at 7 p.m. on the SEC Network Plus. No starter has been announced yet.
