South Carolina shuts out Morehead State to complete series sweep

If Saturday was an offensive slugfest where 27 runs were scored, then Sunday was a stalemate with neither side able to land the first punch.

Through four and a half innings, South Carolina found itself locked into a scoreless tie with Morehead State. This was far from the norm, where the first two games featured plenty of run scoring.

With a runner on third and two outs in the fifth, Nathan Hall broke the ice with an RBI single that dropped into right to give the Gamecocks the first run of the game. And that would be enough for them to complete a series sweep with a 1-0 win on Sunday.

“Baseball is a unique game, isn’t it? Yesterday, 16-11. Couldn’t get anybody out. Today, 1-0,” head coach Paul Mainieri said. “Show up and watch a baseball game, and you’ll see something that you’ve never seen before.”

After scoring 11 runs on Friday and 16 on Saturday, South Carolina’s offense couldn’t do much on Sunday. Morehead State starter Bradley Poynter was excellent, holding the Gamecocks (14-3) to the lone run they scored over seven innings. In total, the bats only had five hits and went 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position.

“We didn’t swing the bats at all very well,” Mainieri said. “So Monte (Lee) and I talked a little bit after the game that maybe we need to adjust our pregame routine. If the kids are a little bit tired, maybe we’re taking too much batting practice before the game. We’ll talk. We’ll figure it out. But our bats just seem slow today.”

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But a superb effort from South Carolina’s pitching staff was able to get the job done. Following up 3.1 scoreless innings of late relief on Saturday, the Gamecocks held Morehead State to no runs and four hits in the series finale.

Dylan Eskew didn’t have his best stuff working for him in his fourth start of the year, as he was taken out of the game before recording an out in the fourth. Despite walking four with one hit-by-pitch, the right-hander didn’t allow a run through three innings.

“Eskew is Eskew. He’s just gonna battle you to the end,” Mainieri said. “But he just walked too many leadoff hitters. He gave five free passes in three-plus innings — four walks and a hit batter. But to his credit, he never gives up. He just keeps battling.”

When Eskew exited, left-hander Jackson Soucie entered into a bases-loaded jam with nobody out after serving up a single. After getting a pop-up in foul ground, the Gamecocks turned an inning-ending double play to keep the Eagles off the board.

Soucie pitched two scoreless innings of one-hit ball and struck out two without a walk.

Tyler Pitzer came in to begin the sixth and quickly retired the side in order before getting into a similar jam to the one Soucie encountered. Morehead State put two runners in scoring position and one out in the seventh.

“It’s not any different than it normally is like in any normal inning,” Pitzer said of the situation. “I just try not to make too much of it, just because if I do that, then it’s gonna go the other way that it did. Just execute my pitches to the best of my ability and do what I can to get out of the inning.”

Pitzer struck out the next batter for the second out. Then, after intentionally walking Hunter Thomas, the Eagles’ most dangerous hitter, the right-hander picked up another strikeout to escape unscathed. After another 1-2-3 inning for Pitzer in the eighth, his day ended with three scoreless innings and four strikeouts with two walks.

Brendan Sweeney picked up his fourth save of the year in the ninth. The Gamecocks’ closer got into some trouble after the Eagles put two runners on with one out. He worked out of it, though, as he recorded his second strikeout and then induced a pop-up in foul ground to secure the win.

Between the four pitchers who threw on Sunday, they each allowed one hit in their outings. While they walked a combined seven batters, they also struck out nine without any runs allowed.

“I thought everyone’s stuff looked good,” Pitzer said. “I know ‘Skew didn’t have the outing he wanted, but I thought he battled through it really well and had the stuff in general. Sucie again, he looked really well tonight. And then again, Sweeney at the end, he looked really good, too.”

Just like South Carolina, Morehead State struggled all afternoon to get the big hit. The Eagles went 1-for-9 with RISP and 0-for-8 with two outs.

Up next: With one more game to go before SEC play, South Carolina will host Georgia State in a midweek game on Wednesday. First pitch is at 6:30 p.m. on SEC Network Plus.

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