COLOMBIA, SC – South Carolina number 14 scored four races in the first inning, defeating Gardner-Webb 9-4 in Tuesday’s midweek fight at Founders Park.
Gardner-Webb drops to 7-10 in the season, breaking his winning streak in four games, while South Carolina improves to 17-6, expanding his winning streak to six consecutive games.
The Gamecocks jumped into an immediate lead at the bottom of the first, scoring four dead runs from the GWU starter. Noah Davis. The ‘dogs went to his bullpen, bringing a reliever Luke Goodyear for his first appearance of the season, which recorded three consecutive outs to end the threat.
South Carolina added an additional run at the bottom of the third, before Gardner-Webb reached the scoreboard at the top of the fourth entry.
Cam Pearcey led the board by hitting a triple standing to the right field gap and was later sent to the main board in a double Patrick Ferguson to the left field to set the score at 5-1.
The Gamecocks added solo runs in the fourth and fifth, before the Runnin ‘Bulldogs managed to scratch again at the top of the sixth inning.
Erlc Jones opened the game, landing a low blow on the first shot he saw to the right field. Jones would advance to the scoring position in a wild field, creating a unique RBI for Ferguson’s right field with two outs, making the score 7-2.
South Carolina scored two more races at the end of seventh position in a two-race home run.
The Runnin ‘Bulldogs added two more races to the final entries.
At the end of the eighth entry, Keiji Parkhurst made a 2-1 pitch to the stands in the left field with two eliminations, his fifth home run of the season.
In the ninth, Mitch McLendon drove in a race in choosing a fielder, plating Pete Capobianco that he reached at the beginning of the picture in the choice of a defender.
Gardner-Webb totaled nine basic accesses at night, with Parkhurst (2 to 4, HR, RBI), Ferguson (2 to 4, 2B, 2 RBI) and Joe Simone (2 to 4) each with multiple hit outputs.
South Carolina collected 13 hits, with Brady Allen (2 to 4, HR, 3 RBI), Wes Clarke (1 to 4, HR, 3 RBI) and George Callil (1 to 3, HR, RBI) doing the most damage on the plate.
Davis (0-1) took the loss to GWU on the mound, allowing for four runs in five base strokes at the start. The ‘Dogs used a total of nine arms at night.
Jack Mahoney (1-0) won the Gamecocks victory, allowing for a run in five strokes with six eliminations in four work starts at the start. Five relievers combined to launch the rest of the competition.
Gardner-Webb returns to the Big South Conference game on Thursday afternoon, opening a series of three games with Longwood and a doubleheader starting at 1 pm at Bill Masters Field at John Henry Moss Stadium.