Two-out hitting makes the difference for South Carolina in midweek win at Winthrop

Talmadge LeCroy was arguably South Carolina’s most consistent hitter throughout the preseason. But once the regular season began, he got off to a slow start and was hitless in his first nine at-bats.

Over the weekend, the senior catcher had been putting the ball in play and making good contact. He just couldn’t find the holes for base hits. That’s when head coach Paul Mainieri told LeCroy, “Don’t get discouraged. You’re hitting the ball hard. They’re going to start falling.”

And sure enough, Mainieri was right. In the fifth inning of Tuesday’s game at Winthrop, LeCroy came up in a big spot with runners on the corners and two outs. Then, on a 2-2 pitch down and in, he ripped a double that one hopped the left field wall, plating two runs to put South Carolina back ahead by a run.

“I’m telling you, Talmadge is a leader of our team,” Mainieri said. “He caught great again and he came through with the big hit there. Who knows if we would’ve ever come back if Talmadge hadn’t given us that huge lift.”

Later in the sixth, Nathan Hall delivered another big two-out hit for the Gamecocks, this time an RBI double that scored KJ Scobey all the way from first base. All of South Carolina’s runs came with two outs in a 5-3 win over Winthrop in its first midweek game of the season.

“Going on the road for the first time was a really good experience for us,” Mainieri said. “How do you win on the road? You got to come through with clutch hits. We had two-out rallies tonight. I think probably all our runs were scored on two-out rallies. We had clutch hits and then clutch relief pitching and clutch defense. And that’s what we did. That’s how we were able to win a really tough, hard fought ballgame.”

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Up to that point, it had been a quiet afternoon for the bats. Kennedy Jones had given the Gamecocks an early 2-0 lead with a two-run homer in the first. After that, the next big hit wouldn’t come until the fifth, which allowed the Eagles to come back and take the lead, scoring three runs off Jarvis Evans Jr.

Evans made it through 3.1 innings with five strikeouts and no walks, but he got himself into a two-runner jam with one out in the fourth. This ended his afternoon and summoned the bullpen to come into duty early on.

Brandon Stone had the tall task of trying to get out of Evans’ mess, which he nearly did without giving up a run. But an immediate double steal by Winthrop and a high chopping ground ball to first base led to a play at the plate to score a run.

From there, Stone struck out the final two batters to avoid further trouble and settle in for the rest of his outing. The right-hander retired the final eight batters he faced, finishing with three strikeouts on the day over 3.2 shutout innings.

“I relied on my defense,” Stone said. “I throw a sinker. I know I’m not going to get a lot of strikeouts. My goal is just to make them hit it on the ground, let my defense work, and they did a great job.”

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The bullpen’s run of dominance continued on after Stone came out of the game. Parker Marlatt retired the side in order in the eighth. Then in the ninth, Brendan Sweeney came in to try and seal the deal.

Winthrop battled back to bring the winning run to the plate after putting two runners aboard with two outs. But Sweeney struck out the final batter he faced on three pitches for his second save of the year.

“Hey, if you get the last out of the game before they tie or take the lead, that’s a successful close in my mind,” Mainieri said. “It’s not always as smooth as it was for him the first night of the season on six pitches. But he did the job.”

Up next: South Carolina returns home to Founders Park for its second straight day of midweek action. The Gamecocks will take on Queens with first pitch at 4 p.m. on Wednesday. The game will be available to watch on SEC Network Plus.

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