Six Gamecocks with multi-hit games power USC to revenge win over Furman
South Carolina baseball got contributions from up and down the lineup and on the mound Tuesday, scoring eight unanswered runs to bury Furman, 10-2, and along with it, any memory of an embarrassing home loss to the Paladins earlier this year.
Not that it was a stress-free ride from start to finish for USC coach Mark Kingston at Fluor Field, as the two teams were tied at two through four innings.
But from there on out, the Gamecocks (24-17, 9-9 SEC), still riding high off a weekend sweep of LSU, took off, scoring eight unanswered runs for the blowout win.
"I thought we played really well and early in the game, they were staying in the game," Kingston said. "Just a really good all-around outing for us. I think we built on this weekend, offensively, pitching-wise, defense, just played another complete game where we were really good in all facets."
USC took the lead right away, as junior center fielder TJ Hopkins led the game off with a single, followed by a single from senior first baseman Madison Stokes. Junior shortstop LT Tolbert then flied out to advance the runner to third, and senior third baseman Jonah Bride slapped a sharp RBI single into left field, making it 1-0.
In the top of the third inning, Stokes crushed an 0-1 pitch 425 feet over the left field wall, doubling the lead to 2-0.
But after three perfect innings to start the game, freshman Carmen Mlodzinski ran into his only trouble of the night in the fourth, as Furman used an RBI single and RBI double to knot the game up.
That was the closest the Paladins ever got. The Gamecocks restored their lead the very next inning with a single and stolen base from Tolbert and an RBI double from Bride, then tacked on two more in the sixth with three consecutive singles by freshman designated hitter Noah Campbell, Hopkins and sophomore left fielder Carlos Cortes and a sacrifice fly from Stokes.
USC plated its sixth run in the seventh as Bride doubled and eventually scored off a sacrifice fly from junior right fielder Jacob Olson. In the bottom half of the inning, Mlodzinski struck out two to tie Adam Hill for the longest outing by a South Carolina pitcher this season, and broke his own career high for strikeouts, with seven.
"Just getting ahead and trusting my pitches and trying to get early outs," Mlodzinski said of the key to his success. "I started in high school, so it was a quick adjustment coming out of the bullpen, so I feel pretty confident."
According to Kingston, Mlodzinski's success and ability to go deep into the game directly led to the team's offensive explosion.
"When you pitch like that, the defense plays really good behind him and then it allows the bats to really relax and do what they do," Kingston said.
In the eighth, Cortes backed his coach's theory up. After Campbell and Hopkins singled to lead off the inning, he connected on the first pitch he saw for a three-run home run to left field. Senior second baseman Justin Row then became the final batter in the lineup to make a contribution the same inning, collecting an RBI with a sacrifice fly to make it 10-2.
"We had 17 hits, we could have easily had 25 the way we hit the ball tonight," Kingston said.
"We're finally healthy, we're at full strength, and it matters ... right now, we're finally getting a feel for how we keep them sharp, which is really important, and we're getting healthy and when you put all that together, you're starting to see glimpses of what we think we could be."
THREE POINTS
Star of the game: Jonah Bride, who went 4-5 with a run, two RBIs and a pair of doubles. That ties his career high in hits.
"Four hits, that's a good night, but it was all around. We had a lot of hard outs too. Plenty of guys that hit into outs could have easily had hits," Bride said.
Play of the game: Carlos Cortes' blast to right field was absolutely clobbered, traveling 432 feet with an exit velocity of 106 miles per hour, exceeding even Stokes' no-doubter and putting an exclamation point on the win.
Stat of the game: Seven innings from Carmen Mlodzinski, tying staff ace Adam Hill for the longest outing by a Gamecock starter all season.
NEXT
Who: South Carolina (23-17, 9-9 SEC) vs. Vanderbilt (24-16, 10-8 SEC), Game 1
When: 7:30 p.m. eastern, Friday, April 27
Where: Hawkins Field, Nashville, Tennessee
Watch: Streaming online on SEC Network Plus via WatchESPN
Listen: 107.5 FM
Probable pitchers: South Carolina — Fr. RHP Logan Chapman (3-0, 3.29 ERA); Vanderbilt — So. RHP Drake Fellows (4-3, 3.03 ERA)
This story was originally published April 24, 2018 at 11:15 PM with the headline "Six Gamecocks with multi-hit games power USC to revenge win over Furman."