I have long supported the “never bunt, hit dingers” approach to baseball and it seems that Gamecocks are too, as they fought Winthrop on Tuesday on the way to their fourth successive win.
South Carolina had a 1-0 lead in the second round when Josiah Sightler made a mistake, advanced on a past ball and returned home in an RBI double by Jeff Heinrich. Two more USC races came in the next inning, courtesy of long balls from Wes Clarke and Andrew Eyster, making the score 3-0.
Things got a little complicated after that, when the Eagles scored two races in the fourth inning, courtesy of a single by Dillon Morton RBI and a passed ball, drawing the game in the next inning due to an error. Gamecocks definitely regained the lead at the end of fifth place. Braylen Wimmer started things with a double and Clarke walked, so Wimmer came home in a mistake to make it 4-3. Josiah Sightler knocked out a one-out RBI single to put the home team 5-3, so Heinrich scored an RBI single of his own with two outs to make the score 6-3. In the sixth, Clarke homered again with two outs to make the 7-3, then David Mendham scored on an Eyster RBI double to increase the score to 8-3.
The final round of Winthrop’s game came in the next inning on another Morton RBI single that made it an 8-4 game. Carolina blew things up even more after that, adding four safe runs in the eighth inning while Wimmer, Clarke and Mendham dropped consecutive bombs, and Sightler added a single solo shot.
Gamecocks starter Will Sanders worked 2.2 innings and allowed only two strokes and no running or walking, while eliminating six hitters. Magdiel Cotto, Jack Mahoney, John Gilreath, Jackson Phipps, Andrew Peters, Daniel Lloyd and Sightler also took the pile for USC in this game, and Gilreath got the win, making it 1-0. Eagles reliever Garrett Gainey took defeat and is 0-1. Clarke had 3 RBI and was the star of the game among many players who were successful on the board; he and Sightler led the team in this game with three strokes each.
With the win, South Carolina is now 4-0 in the season. The Gamecocks will be back in action on Friday to open the series of rivalry against Clemson. The first step is set for 4pm in Upstate.