Early offense, solid pitching lead Gamecocks to sweep over Wildcats

Caleb Denny strode to the plate in a big moment early for South Carolina. 

His walk-up song finished and the Gamecocks’ leadoff hitter dug his feet into the dirt, the bases loaded in a tie game. To that point, Denny had just four hits in his last 30 at-bats with 10 strikeouts to boot. 

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But in one moment, that changed. Denny connected on the second pitch he saw, launching a grand slam 426 feet and over the right-field fence to put South Carolina. 

“It felt really good,” Denny said. “I had a rough start in game one of today and something kind of clicked. I squared a few balls up then carried that over to the third game.” 

That was the boost the Gamecocks needed, cruising to a 10-3 win over Bethune-Cookman to sweep the series. 

South Carolina is off to its best 17-game start since 2014 when the Gamecocks also started 16-1. The last time South Carolina started better was in 2004 when the program rattled off 18 straight wins to start the year. 

They end a long week of baseball where the Gamecocks played eight games in nine days. They won seven of those including two series wins over Clemson and now Bethune-Cookman, including Saturday’s doubleheader.

“We know it was going to be a long day. It’s like a marathon. You don’t think about the 26 miles you think about the next mile,” Mark Kingston said. “With us, it was one pitch at a time and one inning at a time. If you do that before you know it those 18 innings will be over. It was eight games in nine days. Luckily we have the kind of pitching to od that.” 

After struggling to consistently do much offensively, the Gamecocks found a way to score in each of the first four innings. They tagged starter Daniel Gaviria for eight runs, all but one earned, on five hits. 

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Gaviria entered Saturday’s start having allowed just two runs on 13 hits over 24 innings. He didn’t walk anyone in his first two starts and only gave up two extra-base hits, but South Carolina drew three walks off of him and had a pair of extra-base hits. 

The Gamecocks’ offense was able to pull away thanks to some shutdown pitching from Jack Mahoney, who strung together a solid six innings. 

He scattered seven hits but pitched out of trouble in a few innings, giving up two runs but stranding six in the process. The right-hander finished with nine strikeouts and no walks. 

“I think in those moments you have to want to be out there. On a day like today where it’s a long day for position players out there, you don’t want to make them work harder than they need to,” Mahoney said. “Confidence, man, and knowing they got your back behind you to make some plays.”

With Mahoney motoring, the Gamecocks loaded the bases with no one out in the sixth and got two out of it with a sac fly and RBI groundout. 

It was a much better second game for the Gamecocks, who finished with eight hits and had five players with at least one hit. Talmadge LeCroy (2-for-3) and Braylen Wimmer (3-for-4) each had multi-hit days.

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LeCroy drove in a pair also. 

Eli Jerzembeck set it up with an overwhelming seventh inning, giving up just a double but striking out three and throwing 12 of his 13 pitches for strikes.

“It makes us feel a lot better,” Mahoney (2-0) said. “If we don’t have our best stuff that day and can only give the team four or five (innings), it’s a good feeling handing the ball to guys like Jerz or so many other guys in the pen.” 

That was the first of four Gamecocks relievers who combined for three one-run innings to close the game.

South Carolina’s bullpen gave up just three runs over the doubleheader.

“It’s vital for a team that needs to win midweek games and as many games as you can. Pitching depth determines your success a lot of times,” Kingston said. “To have enough quality guys to all you to play eight games in nine days and win most of them, it’s very important. I’m very happy with ave that kind of talent.” 

Up next: South Carolina has its final game before SEC play begins, hosting Presbyterian at 7 p.m. Tuesday night. The Gamecocks haven’t officially named a starter yet.

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