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COLUMBIA, S.C. – College of Charleston baseball outhit No. 10 South Carolina 14-4 in their season opener, powering the Cougars to a 6-3 win over the Gamecocks on Opening Day at Carolina Stadium on Friday evening.
Behind a quality start from right-handed junior Taylor Clarke, Charleston (1-0) snapped a 16-year streak of Opening Day wins for the Gamecocks, while extending their own string of consecutive Opening Day victories to nine.
“We really swung the bats well today,” said head coach Monte Lee. “I think we could have done a little better job on the base paths and in run scoring situations, but we squared the ball up and I thought we did a solid job of hitting with two strikes and keeping pressure on them.”
Clarke (1-0) ended with just one run and two hits against him in 6.0 innings pitched. He struck out five hitters against four walks, three of which came before he settled in during the first inning.
Hayden McCutcheon earned the save (1) in going 1.2 innings and only allowing one base runner. Wade Arduini made his first appearance as a Cougar and pitched 1.1 innings to get the Cougars through the middle frames with the lead intact.
“It's only the first game of the season,” said Lee. “There were some things we need to do a better job of, but overall we played well defensively and Clarke gave us a good outing after struggling in the first, which is what you look for in a veteran starting pitcher.”
Eight of nine Cougar batters recorded hits on the day, with the only exception being Nick Pappas who was significantly pitched around all night, drawing four-pitch walks on two occasions. Five different Cougars picked up multiple hits to drive the total to 14.
“One thing we look for is production one-through-nine [in the lineup]. I think we got that tonight,” said Lee. “We had 20-plus quality at-bats where we did something productive; we had a big inning. Anytime you can have a big inning, your chances of winning go up significantly. Offensively we hit some of our goals, and defensively we played pretty well. We just need to limit some of our free passes and mistakes.”
Charleston restricted the Gamecocks' ability to rally by retiring the leadoff hitter in eight of nine innings. The Cougars reached their leadoff hitter four times, three of which led to scoring innings.
Clarke struggled to find his control early, surrendering a run in the first inning on a single and three walks. The right-handed junior settled in afterwards, however, and forced a groundball for an inning-ending 4-6-3 double play to minimize the damage.
The Cougars erased the lead right away on three singles in the top of the second. Morgan Phillips started the rally with a one-out single up the middle, Erven Roper dropped a ball into left center, and Bradley Jones legged out an infield single to load the bases. Next batter Alex Pastorius grounded a ball to the left side of the infield which allowed Phillips to score without a throw.
After the shaky first, Clarke found his best stuff and worked around a bloop single in the second before dealing perfect third and fourth innings, picking up four strikeouts along the way.
He received some run support when the Cougars went to work offensively in the fifth, ultimately plating three runs on four hits in the frame. Pastorius led off the inning with a single to center, followed by back-to-back one-out singles by Ryan Brown and Blake Butler, the latter scoring Pastorius from second. Pappas was issued a four-pitch walk to load the bases, and a sacrifice fly to right field off the bat of Carl Wise plated Brown for the true freshman's first collegiate run. Butler also tagged and moved to third on the play, which allowed him to score on in infield single by Morgan Phillips in the next at-bat.
The Cougars picked up where they left off in the seventh, with Butler leading off the inning by singling through the ride side of the infield. The Gamecocks again displayed an unwillingness to pitch to Pappas, and awarded him a free base on a second four-pitch walk. Wise promptly punished the decision in the ensuing at bat by singling to center and bringing Butler around to score.
The Cougars tacked on another in the eighth, this time with an infield single by Jones, a perfectly placed sacrifice bunt by Pastorius, and back-to-back singles by Champ Rowland and Brown, marking Brown's first career RBI.
The Gamecocks showed signs of life in the bottom half of the inning, reaching their first three hitters on a bunt single and two walks, and plating runs on a sacrifice fly by Kyle Martin and an RBI single by Alex Destino. McCutcheon came out of the pen at the point, inheriting a two-on, one-out situation, and picking up a flyout and strikeout to send the Cougars into the ninth up 6-3.
The Gamecocks put a runner on in the ninth, but a web gem by Butler at second base prevented them from bringing the tying run to the plate.
The Cougars will look to claim the series on Saturday with the teams slated for a doubleheader (game three of the series was moved up from Sunday due to expected harsh weather conditions). First pitch of game two is slated for 1 p.m., with game three to follow immediately afterwards. Both games will be broadcast on SEC Network+.
“Overall it was a great game for us and we're pleased to get game one,” said Lee. “It's big to get game one in any series. That's the way we're looking at it. We've won the first game of the series, and the key for us is to come out tomorrow and play good quality baseball and find a way to win the series.”
POSTGAME NOTES
The No. 10 ranking for South Carolina is according to the USA Today Coaches Poll. The Cougars were receiving votes in the preseason poll, clocking in at No. 32. The Cougars were ranked No. 25 by Collegiate Baseball, No. 35 by NCBWA and No. 22 by Sporting News.
The first edition of the Cougar lineup looked like: 1. Ryan Brown (LF), 2. Blake Butler (2B), 3. Nick Pappas (1B), 4. Carl Wise (3B), 5. Morgan Phillips (CF), 6. Erven Roper (C) 7. Bradley Jones (RF), 8. Alex Pastorius (DH), 9. Champ Rowland (SS).
True freshman Ryan Brown made his first career start, but seven of the eight remaining hitters recorded at least 100 at bats last season. Brown earned his first career hit with a line drive single in the fifth, scored his first career run later in the fifth, and notched his first RBI in the eighth.
Every Cougar hitter put the ball in play in his first trip to the plate as the Cougars went 4.1 innings (17 hitters) without being struck out.
The Gamecocks had won 16 straight Opening Day contests. Their previous Opening Day loss: A 7-6 loss to CofC in 1998 when Head Coach Monte Lee was playing for the Cougars.
The Cougars have now won nine straight season openers dating back to 2005.
Cougar pitching reduced the Gamecocks to 1-for-9 (.111) with runners on base and 1-for-6 (.167) with runners in scoring position. The Cougars were 8-for-20 (.400) with runners on and 6-for-15 (.400) with RISP.
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