Gamecocks use early offense, bullpen to salvage game against Gators
South Carolina entered Saturday’s game with less importance on the win and more on having the pitching ready to go for the SEC Tournament.
Not only did the Gamecocks get that—four pitchers threw, none more than 48 pitches—but South Carolina got a 4-1 win in what was a rain-slogged game.
Starter Will Sanders only threw one inning but South Carolina’s relievers only allowed one run on three hits over the final eight innings.
“Obviously today we knew today was probably less important than trying to set ourselves up for the conference tournament. But we wanted to get Will out there on the mound, almost like a bullpen, and keep his pitches low so he would be fresh to start Tuesday,” Mark Kingston said.
“The fact the other guys came in—Cade, Matthew and John—and threw eight really nice innings behind him was a big pick me up.”
Sanders knew coming into the week his outing would likely be different than his other 13 starts this year.
He only threw 28 pitches, 15 for strikes, and walked a pair while punching out three.
He’ll get the chance to do even more against the Gators in Hoover. South Carolina opens the tournament with them Tuesday in the second game of the day.
“Command. Four pitches to the leadoff guy?” Sanders said. “I don’t think that’s ever happened. But I got out of it. Just execute my pitches, believe in my stuff and I’ll be fine.”
The Gamecocks (27-27, 13-17 SEC) did enough to give the bullpen some breathing room, jumping out to a 3-1 lead before an over two-hour rain delay.
Josiah Sightler launched solo home runs in his first two at-bats, en route to a 3-for-4 day. His first-inning shot was the South Carolina led all weekend.
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Colin Burgess tacked on another in the second, poking an RBI single to center.
“I mean it’s huge,” Sightler said. “Any time you get momentum going for us it’s big. We’re a team that thrives off momentum. Any time we get that going it helps us.”
After just eight combined hits in the first two games of the series, South Carolina had eight total Saturday.
The final was an Evan Stone squeeze bunt after a 2:35-minute rain delay as the bottom of the Gamecocks’ order went 3-for-4 with a pair of RBI.
“Just quality at-bats,” Kingston said. “Generally we get quality at-bats out of our older guys and our freshmen are battling the best they can. I just want to continue seeing both guys battle.”
John Gilreath slammed the door the final three innings, slicing his way through three hitless innings for his first save of the season and second of his career.
He walked three but punched out two.
“For him to close out a game against Florida on the road,” Kingston said. “I’m really happy for him.”
