Hill shines despite Sunday loss
Coming off the field after the seventh inning, Adam Hill walked off to a large round of applause. He had just sat down his fifteenth straight batter and pitching his fourth straight perfect inning.
The only problem, however, was the Gamecocks were losing by a run. Hill gave up just one run in seven innings. It came in the third after he issued a leadoff walk to Austin Embler. He stole second and moved to third on a passed ball, later scoring on a RBI groundout Matt Williams bobbled.
It was the only run of the game, and it was unearned, leading to a 1-0 Gamecock loss. It was Hill’s first loss in 14 career starts after going 7-0 last season.
“It’s tough. It’s something I have to clean up,” the sophomore said. “I have to be better than that. I can’t walk that guy. If I don’t walk that guy, it’s a tie ballgame. It’s something I got to clean up. But we played well; hit some balls hard. It’s just baseball.”
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It was a typical performance from the lanky righty, who punched out seven batters while tying his career high with seven innings pitched. His fastball was consistently hitting the mid-90s, and he confused UNCG’s hitters the majority of the day.
“He was really, really good. He was really good last year,” head coach Chad Holbrook said. “I guess he didn’t give up a hit against Florida before the rains came. He can do that. I was proud of him. He competed.”
The seven strikeouts were the most he’s had in a game since picking up eight April 24 against Missouri. The one hit given up was also a career-low. He was also pitching a no-hitter against Florida last season before the game was rained out.
“Maybe so, I don’t know,” he said, after being asked if this was his best game of his career. “The ultimate goal is to win the ballgame and we came up short. We’ll get back to work and be ready for Tuesday.”
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Hill’s performance is another of standout outings from the South Carolina pitchers this weekend. Gamecock starters combined to allow just one earned run over the course of 18.2 innings, striking out 17.
Relief pitchers also went 8.1 innings and didn’t allow an earned run. They struck out 10. Hill pitched the longest of the three starters this weekend, with Clarke Schmidt and Wil Crowe going 6.2 and 5 innings respectively.
The Gamecocks will look to another bullpen arm this Tuesday against UNC Charlotte, where Holbrook said a starter could be announced early this week. Whoever it is will try to build on an already-dominant pitching performance from the Gamecocks this weekend.
“He was terrific; he located his fastball really, really well, threw his curveball and located that,” Holbrook said. “Our pitching staff was phenomenal all weekend long.”
