Cortes, Crowe spark Gamecocks to win over Gators
South Carolina leaned heavily on a newcomer and a veteran Friday in a 4-2 win over Florida at McKethan Stadium.
Freshman outfielder Carlos Cortes continued his hot hitting, going 2-for-5 and belting a two-run home run in the first inning, his fifth of the season. Junior pitcher Wil Crowe (4-3) struck out three, walked none and allowed six hits and a run in seven innings pitched.
The Gamecocks (24-14, 9-8 SEC) tied the series and earned their first win in Gainesville since the 2011 season. The Gators dropped to 26-13, 9-8.
“It was obviously a big win for our team, for more ways than one,” head coach Chad Holbrook said. “I told them after the game, some wins should count more than one and I felt like this one was a little more than just one win for a number of reasons. It was good to see some guys battle against a great pitching staff and get some nice hits.”
Game 3 is noon Saturday on ESPN2.
Crowe’s performance came at the same stadium where he injured his elbow two years ago. The injury and Tommy John surgery cost him the remainder of the 2015 season and all of 2016.
“Wil was awesome. It was important for him too,” Holbrook said. “He got hurt here a couple of years ago and that was a very difficult weekend for our team and our program and for Wil. It was good to see him pitch one of his best games at the site where he got injured. It was a meaningful game and it will mean something for him for a long time.”
Junior right-hander Tyler Johnson pitched two innings of relief with just one run allowed and two strikeouts to earn his sixth save of the year. Johnson battled out of no outs, bases loaded eighth inning jam.
Jacob Olson had two hits and an RBI for USC. Chris Cullen also drove in a run. Alex Destino did not start for the first time this season.
All five of Cortes’ homers this year are against SEC teams.
“We did some nice things,” Holbrook said. “We got a few big hits. We scored enough. If we can score four or five with our pitching staff we have a great chance to win and that kind of held up tonight.”
Absolutely huge bounce back win for South Carolina tonight. Gamecocks have a chance for their biggest win of the year on Saturday.
— Matt Connolly (@MattatTheState) April 22, 2017
Carlos Cortes ABSOLUTELY CRUSHED this ⚾️@GamecockBasebll 2-0 pic.twitter.com/tX5OiDOEPx
— SEC Network (@SECNetwork) April 21, 2017
.@GamecockBasebll's Tyler Johnson. 98 mph!!! pic.twitter.com/rruQgVeYOb
— SEC Network (@SECNetwork) April 22, 2017
USC | ab | r | h | rbi | bb | k |
Hopkins cf | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Tolbert 2b | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Cortes lf | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
Blair lf | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Cullen dh | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Bride 3b | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Olson rf | 4 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Stokes ss | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Williams 1b | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Taylor c | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
TOTALS | 35 | 4 | 9 | 4 | 2 | 8 |
Florida | ab | r | h | rbi | bb | k |
Liput 2b | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Guthrie ss | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Langworthy cf | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Larson lf | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Maldonado rf | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Schwarz 1b | 4 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Hicks 3b | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Bell dh | 4 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
Kolozsvary c | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
TOTALS | 34 | 2 | 8 | 1 | 2 | 5 |
USC | 200 | 001 | 100 | — | 4 |
Florida | 010 | 000 | 001 | — | 2 |
E — Tolbert. DP — USC 2. LOB — USC 8, Florida 7. 2B — Olson; Kolozsvary. HR — Cortes. HBP —Hopkins. SH — Bride
USC | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
Crowe W, 4-3 | 7 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
Johnson S, 6 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
Florida | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
Singer L, 4-3 | 5 1/3 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 5 |
Horvath | 1/3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Rubio | 1 1/3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
McMullen | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Dyson | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
HBP: by Singer (Hopkins). Umpires — HP: Seth Bruckmeier. 1B: Scott Cline. 2B: Michael Mazza. 3B: Ryan Morehead. T — 3:12. A 4,384.
Crowe faced 1 batter in the eighth.
Game 3 pitchers
▪ USC: Adam Hill (So. RHP 2-3, 2.14 ERA, 46 1/3 IP, 21 BB, 55 Ks)
▪ Florida: Jackson Kowar (So. RHP, 6-0, 3.51 ERA, 51 1/3 IP, 25 BB, 43 Ks)
This story was originally published April 21, 2017 at 10:13 PM with the headline "Cortes, Crowe spark Gamecocks to win over Gators."