Friday night Andy Peters said the Gamecock pitching staff was just at the tip of the iceberg in showing what it could do.
Saturday the Gamecocks took one more step in the right direction.
South Carolina's pitching staff dominated Mercer to the tune of just four hits and 17 strikeouts as the Gamecocks won 4-0 to take the series.
It's the first shutout the Gamecocks (9-0) have pitched since opening day last year against Holy Cross, and it pushes their win streak to 14 games dating back to last season.
Starter Brannon Jordan set the tone, pitching five scoreless innings en route to one of his better outings during his time at South Carolina.
He'd set a new career-high for strikeouts with 11, tie a career-low by allowing just one hit and walked three on 93 pitches.
"Hopefully that’s something to build on. When you look back and it was five innings, one hit and 11 strikeouts. That’s a great outing," Mark Kingston said. "Hopefully he found something right there that will really serve him well the rest of the way.”
After battling through some adversity in the first inning he'd settle in nicely, striking out nine of the next 11 batters he faced and motoring through the Mercer lineup before exiting with a three-run lead.
“You try to be parsimonious through pitches and work quick," Jordan said. "You try to enforce the pace. When you’re on a roll and start to force the pace you put the pressure on hitters. That was my key tonight.”
His only hit came on a leadoff double to start the third inning but the runner never advanced with Jordan (1-0, 3.46 ERA) getting a pop up and two strikeouts to end the inning.
“I made an adjustment early in the first inning after I went 2-0 to the second batter with my fastball. I started stuffing that a lot more. The third inning my starter started to come around a lot better," Jordan said. "I was stuffing that through the zone. Wes was doing a good job of talking to me and keeping me confident. I would say that third inning was definitely the inning I started to roll.”
Jackson Phipps, Will Sanders and Brett Kerry combined to throw the final four innings out of the bullpen, giving up no runs on three hits.
Only one runner allowed by the bullpen would reach second base, and that came on a bloop double where the defense lost the ball in the stadium lights. The three bullpen arms threw a combined to throw 49 pitches, 37 for strikes.
“That’s tremendous. That’s why you saw the success we had," Kingston said. "You throw strikes, you get ahead and you use off-speed stuff or a hard fastball in to finish guys. That’s the perfect recipe and guys did a nice job with that.”
After what Kingston called a "blue collar" offensive day Friday, the Gamecocks did just enough offensively to get the job done and give the pitching staff some room to work with.
They started the game quickly, putting up a three-spot in the first inning, but went scoreless until the seventh when David Mendham doubled home Brady Allen.
Josiah Sightler started the scoring with a solo home run, his second of the year, and Joe Satterfield driving in two more on a bases loaded double with two outs.
It was Satterfield's first start at home this season and he notched his fourth RBI hit of the year.
“Obviously I was super excited. I grew up a Gamecock fan and this is a dream come true for me to get out there and play with these guys," he said. "The first at-bat I had two strikes on me and was just looking for something up. I got a good pitch to hit. We did a great job with two outs loading the bases up and putting some pressure on him.”
They'd struggle hitting with runners on base—just 3-for-16—and struck out 10 times but did enough to get the win.
“They mix it up well. They keep the ball down," Satterfield said. "That starter got into some trouble early but until his arm got languid he kept us off balance and made us have some tough at-bats. Their staff as a whole has been impressive. Offensively we’re doing enough but our pitching’s been great.”
