Slow start dooms Gamecocks against Kansas State
South Carolina’s baseball team has spent the first week of the season searching for consistent offense.
After Thursday night’s 6-5 loss to Kansas State at Founders Park, the Gamecocks are still looking, but not for lack of chances.
USC (3-2) stranded 11 runners. The Gamecocks loaded the bases three times and got one run out of it.
“We fought back to try to get in it and had certainly our fair share of opportunities with the bases loaded,” South Carolina coach Chad Holbrook said. “We laced some balls pretty good that were caught here and there. But we put ourselves in a hole and couldn’t dig out of it.”
In the first inning, a strikeout and line out left the bases full. In the fourth, three on with no outs plated only one with a Danny Blair double play. In the fifth, USC left men on the corners on a Jonah Bride lineout to left.
The Gamecocks took advantage of some wild pitching to load the bases again, but Bride could only manage a fly ball to center.
South Carolina needed that offense after starting pitcher John Parke lasted less than an inning, letting six of the eight Wildcats (4-1) he faced reach base. The Gamecocks were down 4-0 before they even saw a pitch.
Holbrook said the first-time starter didn’t have command from the first pitch (he walked two batters) and probably could have thrown it in and relied on his defense. Reliever Reed Scott, who pitched 5 1/3 innings of one-run ball in relief, said Parke would be fine.
“John’s a talented kid,” Scott said. “He’s a smart kid. He’s going to bounce back. He’s going to be a big part of this program.”
Scott added he went as long as he did to save the rest of the bullpen for a weekend series against Wright State, and Holbrook said Scott probably won’t be available until Sunday.
USC got some offense from Alex Destino, who launched his second home run in as many games, and Madison Stokes, who tied a career high with three hits.
But Stokes said since it came in a loss, it didn’t mean much.
“We’re squaring balls up,” Stokes said. “Some aren’t falling, but obviously it’s not doing enough. We’ve got to do more.”
Kansas State | ||||||
ab | r | h | rbi | bb | k | |
Thompson cf | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Wodtke ss | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Serratore rf | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Harker rf | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Scudder 1b | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 |
Crandall 3b | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Rolette c | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Reuben dh | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Brennan lf | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Ethier 2b | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
TOTALS | 34 | 6 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 5 |
South Carolina | ||||||
ab | r | h | rbi | bb | k | |
Blair cf | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Cullen c | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
Jones ph | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Taylor c | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Destino dh | 5 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
Cortes lf | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Hopkins ph | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Olson rf | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Hogan 1b | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Flint pr | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Williams | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
McIlwain pr | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Stokes ss | 5 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Tolbert 2b | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Bride 3b | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
TOTALS | 36 | 5 | 9 | 4 | 5 | 11 |
Kansas St. | 400 | 200 | 000 | — | 6 |
USC | 002 | 120 | 000 | — | 5 |
E—Hogan. DP—Kansas State 1. LOB—Kansas State 8, USC 11. 2B—Scudder, Stokes. HR—Scudder, Destino. SB—Wodtke.
Kansas St. | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
Kalmus | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 5 |
Littlejim | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Marolf, W 1-0 | 1 2/3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
NJones | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Zubradt | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Ford | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Floyd, S 3 | 1 1/3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
South Carolina | 1P | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
Parke, L 0-1 | 2/3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 1 |
Lawson | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Scott | 5 1/3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
WP—Zubradt. Umpires—HP: Barry Chambers; 1B: Todd Drake; 2B: Richie Tallent; 3B: Mayhue Edwards.
T—3:08. A—6,613.
This story was originally published February 23, 2017 at 7:12 PM with the headline "Slow start dooms Gamecocks against Kansas State."