Bats come through in late innings to deliver Opening Day win for South Carolina

On a chilly afternoon turned evening where the ball wasn’t leaving the yard, aside from Ethan Petry and his ferocious power, South Carolina couldn’t buy a hit. The Gamecocks had scored three early runs, the third of which was a Petry solo homer to lead off the third inning.

That was the last shade of real offense as day turned into night, though. Going into the seventh, South Carolina hadn’t recorded a hit since Petry’s blast. Then Blake Jackson led off with a walk. Not a hit but at least some sign of life.

Jackson, who led the team in stolen bases last season, quickly swiped second base to get into scoring position, then he took third on a pitch in the dirt. Just like that, South Carolina was in business but still hadn’t gotten back in the hit column.

“When any guy steals a bag like that, it’s a ton of momentum. It’s a big momentum builder for the team,” Henry Kaczmar said. “You see him get there, and he’s super hyped up. That kind of gives energy for the whole dugout. And everyone felt that.”

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On the next pitch, Kaczmar laced a go-ahead RBI single into centerfield to break a 3-3 tie and give the Gamecocks the lead. South Carolina (1-0) managed to hold on the rest of the way en route to a 5-3 win over Sacred Heart on Opening Day.

“After the inning was over, I came in the dugout and gave (Jackson) a huge hug,” said Kaczmar, who went 1-for-4 in his South Carolina debut. “It’s just great for him to be able to get that bag for the team.”

It’s the first win for new head coach Paul Mainieri, who takes over after seven seasons of Mark Kingston in Columbia.

South Carolina added a key insurance run in the eighth as Nolan Nawrocki drove in pinch-runner Evan Stone from third with an RBI single. It wasn’t an eye-popping day for the offense with only seven hits, two of which went for extra bases. But the Gamecocks also stole four bases and were able to move runners over while only striking out six times.

“I don’t really want us to be known as a small ball team. That’s not the intention,” Mainieri said. “But with this time of year, when it’s chilly and you get that north wind blowing in, I’ve always said there’s no climbable condition that affects baseball more than the wind.

“… I just felt like tonight, going into the game, that we were going to have to manufacture some runs. So that’s why we utilized the hit and run and we utilized stealing bases. Tried to make some things happen.”

Even without a huge day offensively, this would be enough for the Gamecocks’ bullpen to shut down the Pioneers the rest of the way.

After five innings of one-run ball from starter Dylan Eskew, who struck out a career-high nine batters, Tyler Pitzer was first up out of relief to start the sixth. But he couldn’t find any rhythm as he only recorded one out while walking three.

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Parker Marlatt came in after Pitzer to try and work out of the mess he created but even that would be a tall task. He pitched well enough to get out of serious trouble, but Sacred Heart tied the game at three on an infield single.

Once Marlatt came back out for the seventh, he was able to settle in and pitch well the rest of his outing. He went 2.2 innings and gave up two hits while striking out five without a walk.

With a two-run cushion in the ninth, Brendan Sweeney retired the side in order on just six pitches, striking out one.

“We’ve been grooming him for this. This is why I felt confident that we could move Matthew Becker into the starting rotation because I felt Sweeney could handle that kind of situation,” Mainieri said on Sweeney in the closer role. “We’ve been making these situations for him in scrimmage games. He’s such a nice kid and very soft spoken. So we’re trying to make him a little meaner. So we gave him a nickname — we call him ‘The Bulldog’ now. So nobody calls him Brendan Sweeney. We just call him the Bulldog.”

Up next: South Carolina will go for the series win against the Pioneers in the middle game on Saturday. Matthew Becker will make his first start of the season. First pitch is at 2 p.m. on SEC Network Plus.

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