South Carolina's sixth-inning rally helps secure midweek win over Davidson

After a rocky start to Tuesday’s matchup, the Gamecocks were able to turn it around in a late-game shift. South Carolina (10-3) picked up a 7-3 win over Davidson to snap a three-game losing streak.

“Well, it’s good to get back in the winner’s circle, obviously, after the weekend, but it wasn’t a thing of beauty out there. But we’ll take the win and move on,” head coach Paul Mainieri said.”

South Carolina’s defense looked to be lacking its usual flow and confidence. In addition, there was a lack of momentum offensively at the plate early on.

By the top of the fourth, South Carolina had earned three fielding errors, two of which belonged to Henry Kaczmar at shortstop. Kaczmar was able to make up for it in the third with a solo homer 350 feet over the right field wall, his first of the season.

“It was great to see Henry Kaczmar swing to bat well. Suprised you didn’t ask to have him up here in this post-game press conference. He hit that big home run, of course, to get us on the board. And then had another really good hit. We’ve got to get his defense back together. He had a couple of rough plays out there on the field, but it was good. Honestly, I’m not that worried about his defense. I was just happy to see him swing the bat with some aggressiveness. Got two hits, two walks, so he’s on base four times,” Mainieri said.

In a crucial bottom of the fifth inning situation, bases loaded and two outs, Nolan Nawrocki struck out looking. The Gamecocks’ troubles with hitting when runners were in scoring position continued.

South Carolina’s bats were seemingly cold until the bottom of the sixth. Back-to-back leadoff hits by freshmen Beau Hollins and KJ Scobey helped South Carolina end the inning with five runs.

Both Ethan Petry and Nathan Hall were able to hit RBI doubles in the sixth. Jase Woita also had two RBIs on the night for South Carolina.

“I saw the infield was in and I was just trying to get it past the infield,” Hall said. “It wasn’t an ideal pitch or an ideal swing but I think I put enough of a good swing on it to help my team get some runs on the board.”

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In his first start on the mound as a Gamecock, freshman Ryder Garino ended the first inning with his 10th strikeout of the season. However, his momentum slowly dwindled as Davidson’s Jack Cotrone took him yard for a three-run homer in the second.

Garino finished the evening sitting in the 85-90 MPH range, pitching two strikeouts and giving up three runs off two hits in three innings pitched.

Jackson Soucie followed Garino on the mound, going 2.1 innings with three strikeouts and no hits or runs allowed. From the bullpen, Tyler Pitzer was next in line. He pitched two strikeouts in the two batters faced in his solo inning. Brandon Stone followed, throwing four strikeouts in two innings with no hits.

“And you know, Brandon Stone has just been a Godsend for us in this early part of the season. He dominated the two innings that he was out there,” Mainieri said.

Closing out the game, senior Caleb Jones ended the Wildcat’s night with two strikeouts in the ninth.

“That was good to get Caleb Jones out there for the first time,” Mainieri said.

Up next: South Carolina will travel to Charleston to face The Citadel. First pitch is set for 7 p.m. on Wednesday. The game can be streamed on ESPN Plus.

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