South Carolina pulls away late in midweek win

Early season games are all about putting guys in situations and seeing who thrives and who doesn’t. 

So when Trey Wheeler jogged out of the bullpen Tuesday afternoon in a one-run game, that was one of those moments. 

South Carolina just saw its no-hitter go by the wayside. Then a four-run lead dwindles to one with Wheeler coming in to face the go-ahead run. 

He got out of the inning, preserving a one-run lead en route to the Gamecocks’ 11-3 win Tuesday against North Carolina A&T. 

“He handled himself well. You need some lefty matchup guys and clearly, that’s what he is for us,” Mark Kingston said. “He did a good job. The game had gotten tight for a bit. He came in, got the lefty out and gave us a chance to get those seven runs. He did what he was asked to do.”

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Wheeler came out and struck out the first batter he faced. He followed that with a four-pitch walk only to get the next batter to fly out and end the threat. As he walked off the mound, he did it with a skip, celebrating his first real test passed. 

“I think I’ve always been really emotional. That plays into my competitiveness. I don’t really care what the situation is,” Wheeler said. “I’m just going out there to suffocate the offense on the opposing side. The emotion is a byproduct of being that competitive. There’s really no other way to put it.” 

South Carolina (9-0) loaded the bases with no one out in each of the next two innings, getting seven unanswered runs. Cole Messina headlined it with a bases-loaded double that ultimately led to all three runs coming across after an error.  

A game that got a little too close for comfort was officially blown open and back to being drama-free late.

“It took a little while to get going. But 10 walks tonight, we were taking good at-bats. I know I talked about it this weekend, but the effectively wild thing is real,” Kingston said. “Sometimes it’s hard to get those big hits when you’re walking so much and they’re kind of around the zone. They had a couple of guys out there who had good arms. But at the end of the day, I’ll take 11 runs on 10 hits every day.”

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South Carolina’s pitching, outside of a tough third of an inning from Nick Proctor, was lights-out. 

The Gamecocks carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning before Proctor gave up a single. He then allowed three-straight one-out hits, two of those RBI doubles, to make things a game. 

James Hicks and Eli Jones started the game allowing just one walk and three strikes between them. Jones, though, motored through three perfect innings with 26 of his 36 pitches strikes.

“Last week I didn’t have my best stuff but wasn’t really feeling right on the mound. Tonight I was just like, ‘Put the ball over the plate and get outs.’ We knew they were a swing-happy team,” Eli Jones said. “No one got on base. It was fun when you look at your stuff. I still didn’t have my best stuff today but even when I’m getting outs I’m not trying to be a jackanape or anything or a crazy guy. It’s still a lot of fun.” 

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And the pitching did more than enough to keep the offense in the game until the late-inning explosion to put the game away. No pitcher threw more than Jones, meaning everyone will be available for the Clemson series this weekend.

An offense that sputtered Sunday ultimately hit 4-for-16 with runners in scoring position against the Aggies.

The last, and maybe most important, was the Messina double late in the game with the Gamecocks leading by just three runs. Gavin Casas and Will McGillis–the two heroes Sunday–combined to go 4-for-8 with three RBI.

McGillis led the game off with a homer while Casas walked once, got hit by a pitch and had a pair of RBI singles.

“They’re good players. That’s the bottom line. When good players play they put up numbers. It’s just that simple,” Kingston said. “I thought Will gave us a decent look at the top of the order and I liked how that looked.”

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Up next: South Carolina is into rivalry play. The Gamecocks start their annual rivalry series with Clemson Friday night in the upstate with first pitch at 6 p.m. on the ACC Network Extra. 

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