In photos: South Carolina takes down Bethune-Cookman
South Carolina is fresh off a sweep of Bethune-Cookman and has won four straight series and seven straight games en route to a 16-1 start.
The Gamecocks drubbed the Wildcats 20-3 Friday and swept a Saturday doubleheader 18-8 to take the series and move now into SEC play.
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Gamecock Central was on hand for the series and here are some photos from Friday night and game one Saturday.
Photos are by Caroline Barry.
Friday night
Saturday (Game 2)
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.
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“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.
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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.”
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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.
