Paul Mainieri wanted it, and he got it.
Yesterday after South Carolina finished off Milwaukee 6-3 he was not frustrated by any means, but wanted something a little more comfortable.
“It's fun to win the games,” he started after Saturday's game. But I hope one of these days we can blow somebody out so we can get a lot of guys in there."
Asked, and answered.
South Carolina blasted Milwaukee 14-4 to complete the sweep, scoring in five of the first six innings for its eighth win in a row to wrap up the second weekend of the season.
"It was good to finish off a weekend. Any time you sweep somebody it's a tremendous feeling," Mainieri said. "I thought all weekend our guys played really well, and capped it off today."
A changed lineup featured Blake Jackson sliding into the No. 2 spot, Will Tippett getting a start in for the struggling Henry Kaczmar at shortstop and backup catcher Ryan Bakes picking up Talmadge LeCroy behind the plate. True freshman Beau Hollins also made his first career start at first base, sliding Ethan Petry back to right field.
Every single change paid off.
Jackson immediately started the scoring with an RBI double in the first inning, and started a rally with a lead-off walk he eventually came around to score on later in the game.
Bakes handled the pitching staff well and crushed his first career home run, a towering two-run shot to left-center field in the fifth inning that went 419 feet off the bat.
"The swings recently I knew I was out front a little bit. I talked to [hitting coach] Monte [Lee] and he told me to stay back on it, and I did that."
Hollins only had one hit, but it was an RBI hit — the first of his collegiate career — in the sixth inning. And Will Tippett had his first-career four-hit game, whacking a lead-off double in the second, a lead-off single in the fourth and another single in the fifth before ending his sensational afternoon with an RBI double off the wall in the 8th.
"We've been hitting the balls hard all week," Tippett said. "This week, last week, they're just starting to fall. We're going to keep doing what we're doing, and I think we're on a good path."
And as you would expect, the regular faces contributed. Petry smoked an RBI double in the first inning, added another RBI on a groundout and reached base three times in the game to extend his hitting streak to eight games. Second baseman Nolan Nawrocki re-joined the lineup after getting the day off yesterday, just in time to deposit a hanging curveball 425 feet onto the left field concourse for his first home run as a Gamecock.
The offensive outburst was more than enough to make it a comfortable margin, but the pitching had its ups and downs. Starter Jake McCoy struck out eight batters in four innings of work, but free passes prevented him from going any further. McCoy issued three walks and hit two batters, and the lead-off walk he surrendered in the second inning came back to bite him. After the walk and a bunt single, Milwaukee (1-5) catcher Thomas Otto curled a three-run home run inside the foul pole in left field to momentarily tie the game.
"He gave up the three-run home run in the second inning and the rest of the inning he dominated," Mainieri said. "But the other innings he got the first two guys up and then let a guy get on base, so that drove his pitch count up. His pitch count was almost 80 pitches. The next lesson that he has to learn is to have a killer instinct to finish off an inning."
South Carolina’s (8-0) bullpen settled the game down in the middle innings behind two sharp Ashton Crowther innings and a solid one from freshman Cooper Parks, although the latter did allow a solo home run in his second inning of action.
Two weekends, two sweeps. But as anyone who has followed Gamecock baseball for any amount of time knows, it’s all about that third weekend.
With the appropriate attention on Tuesday’s midweek against Gardner-Webb still in the way, everyone leaving Founders Park was thinking the same thing after an error at third base allowed the 14th run to cross the plate and secure a run-rule win.
It is officially Clemson week.
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