South Carolina run rules Gardner-Webb to remain unbeaten going into Clemson series

Paul Mainieri had his concerns. He’s always made sure his players don’t look too far ahead and only focus on the game at hand. As he’s quickly learned, though, there are a lot of people who care about the big series on deck this weekend.

“That’s all anybody in this town ever talks about is playing Clemson,” Mainieri said. “I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s a new experience for me. I sometimes think the fans care more about what we do against Clemson than what we do in the SEC, which is crazy in a way. It’s the third weekend of the season.”

Before the Gamecocks begin their annual weekend series with their in-state rival, they still had another game to play. Mainieri felt Tuesday had trap game written all over it, especially after his team fell behind 2-0 in the first inning.

But South Carolina locked back in and handled its business accordingly. The Gamecocks (9-0) picked up a 14-4 run-rule win over Gardner-Webb to remain unbeaten this season.

“I was a little concerned because we weren’t able to practice yesterday,” Mainieri said. “You always worry about the psyche of your players when you’re not around them. Fortunately, we got some hits and hit some home runs.”

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The offense picked up right where it left off after plating 14 runs on Sunday with four home runs through the first three innings. Jase Woita hit a pair of solo shots in his first two at-bats. He now has hit three homers through his first seven games at South Carolina.

“It’s a good feeling. As a hitter, that’s kind of what you’re looking for,” Woita said. “In those two at-bats, I was just trying to be tough with two (strikes). Coach Mainieri always preaches that a lot: being a good two-strike hitter. … Just being a dog in the box and being able to compete. That’s all I was trying to do.”

Right before Woita went deep for a second time, Max Kaufer led off the second inning with a towering solo homer. Then in the third, KJ Scobey got in on the action with his first career homer, also a solo shot to open the inning.

Gardner-Webb managed to get back within a run after Tanner Thomas hit a two-run shot in the fourth. But South Carolina quickly responded with a big five-run inning to create the separation it needed.

Kaczmar redeemed himself from his early error by driving in a run on an RBI single. A few batters later, Nathan Hall made the big dent with a three-run homer that landed on the left field concourse. Kennedy Jones rounded out the scoring in the frame with an RBI single.

Win tickets to USC-Clemson baseball (Sunday game in Columbia)

The Gamecocks plated four more runs the rest of the night, which gave way to many backups and pitchers seeing action. All nine starters recorded at least one hit, with four having multi-hit games. The offense tallied 15 hits and finished with five homers and two more extra-base hits on doubles.

“I don’t really know if it does anything. We’re going to be facing high-quality pitching this weekend,” Mainieri said on the offense getting going before the Clemson series. “I mean, who knows what happens. But you can’t go into a game and expect to score 14 runs against a quality pitching staff like that.

“I would very much expect the games to be close, hard-fought, one-run type games. I’m glad we’re swinging the bats much better. … When you hit the solo home runs, you take them. But I don’t think you’re going to beat really good teams with just hitting solo home runs every day. So we’ve got to hit in the clutch and hit multi-run home runs and those types of things.”

South Carolina ended up using seven pitchers to earn the win on Tuesday. Jackson Soucie and Jarvis Evans Jr. each surrendered a pair of runs in the two innings they both pitched. After that, Ryder Garino and Tyler Pitzer tossed one scoreless inning apiece.

In the seventh, Mainieri wanted to get the most out of his usual bullpen arms by bringing in a different pitcher to record each out. He used Zach Russell first to face two batters on 11 pitches. Then after Parker Marlatt only needed one pitch to get the next out, he walked right back out to the mound to bring in Brendan Sweeney. The Gamecocks’ usual closer made quick work as he struck out the only batter he faced.

Mainieri’s reasoning for making those pitching changes in the final inning was simple. Marlatt hadn’t pitched since last Tuesday, and Sweeney hadn’t thrown in a game since last Friday. He wanted to keep them both sharp for the weekend ahead.

“I told them earlier in the game, ‘Just ignore the score. … If we get a bigger score, you’re both going to pitch tonight,'” he said. “The more times they get out to the mound, the more sharp I think they’ll be.”

Up next: South Carolina will begin a three-game series with No. 13 Clemson on Friday. The Gamecocks will travel to Doug Kingsmore Stadium in Clemson for game one. First pitch is at 7 p.m. on ACC Network Extra.

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