Gamecocks slug four homers in 6-1 midweek win at Winthrop
ROCK HILL, S.C. — Two key Jonathan French moments on consecutive pitches made the difference for South Carolina in a tricky midweek road game.
In the bottom of the sixth inning of a 1-1 game the catcher executed a perfect tag at home plate on the end of a Caleb Denny throw in to cut down the potential go-ahead Winthrop run and end the inning.
On the first pitch of the seventh, French clubbed his second home run of the season out to left-center field to give the Gamecocks a 2-1 lead, and two more home runs later in the inning blew the game open to set up a 6-1 win in the road midweek.
"I was just trying to get something going," French said. "I was just trying to look for a ball up and the zone and over the middle of the plate that I could do damage on and put a good swing on."
South Carolina (36-8) won the game without head coach Mark Kingston, who did not make the trip while serving the automatic one-game suspension he received after his second ejection of the season on Sunday against Auburn. That left the controls to hitting coach Monte Lee, who served as the acting head coach for the night.
Lee and pitching coach Justin Parker were careful not to overextend any arms with another critical SEC series opening Friday night at Kentucky, using six different pitchers in the win. It started with four perfect innings from Eli Jones and Eli Jerzembeck, Jones picking up the first inning and Jerzembeck the next three with razor sharp efficiency. The two combined to sit down the first dozen Winthrop hitters on just 40 total pitches, holding a 1-0 lead thanks to a second inning Cole Messina home run.
The sun started to become an issue for both teams in the due-west built ballpark, keeping both offenses at bay for most of the day. Winthrop (21-22) tied the game in the 5th when Ramses Cordova dropped a two-out RBI single into right off Dylan Eskew and then loaded the bases, but Nick Proctor came out of the bullpen and slammed the door with a key strikeout on Brody Hopkins.
"I wouldn't say it's the easiest place to see the baseball," Lee said about the sun. "I think our hitters would tell you it's a fairly tough place to see the baseball, but they've got to deal with it too. It's not like our lineup was the only group that had to deal with it."
And after Winthrop’s huge missed chance to take the lead in the bottom of the sixth on Denny’s outfield assist, South Carolina seized the momentum.
"It was huge," French said on the out at home plate. "If he's [Denny] not playing the ball right there and he's not playing the game hard, we don't make that play and they're up 2-1 on us there."
French’s home run off Josh Bookbinder was the first blow, and two batters later Will Tippett followed his Sunday heroics with his second home run in as many games. After his home run made it 3-1 and Michael Braswell beat out an infield single, Ethan Petry snapped an abbreviated 0-for-9 slump with a line drive home run out to left field that doubled the advantage and all but secured the outcome. It was Petry’s 21st home run of the season, moving him within one of tying Pedro Alvarez’s all-time record for homers by an SEC freshman.
Austin Willliamson and Cade Austin cleaned up the final nine outs on the mound and Dylan Brewer added one more RBI for the Gamecocks, who will open their series at Kentucky at 6:30 p.m. Friday night on SEC Network Plus.
"I don't know if we could have asked for more out of our pitching staff," Lee said. "Only three walks on the night and I think we punched out 10. Gave up one run on the road and defensively we played a solid game behind them, but I thought our pitching staff did an outstanding job."
****************************************************************************************
For all the latest updates on South Carolina baseball, subscribe to the insider's forum.