USC flattened by College of Charleston as Chad Holbrook gets triumphant return
South Carolina baseball certainly welcomed former coach Chad Holbrook back to Columbia on Wednesday — it just wasn't the way it wanted.
Holbrook's new team, College of Charleston, got out in front of the Gamecocks early and never looked back at Spirit Communications Park, crushing them 9-0.
USC (28-20, 13-11 SEC) managed just one hit against the Cougars (34-16, 14-7 CAA), who, without a weekend series coming up, threw junior ace Evan Sisk. Sisk dominated, lasting seven innings and surrendering just one hit and two walks.
"Decent fastball that he just kept away from us. He threw in occasionally and just totally kept us off balance, unlike a lot of pitchers we generally see," coach Mark Kingston said of Sisk's performance, though he did not give his team a free pass for facing a weekend starter in a midweek game.
"It makes a difference, obviously, but at the end of the day, we've been beating SEC Friday night guys," he said.
Carolina's pitching, meanwhile, had nowhere near the same success, led by freshman starter Carmen Mlodzinski, who went down on the second pitch of the game, as Charleston junior second baseman Dupree Hart launched a 1-0 offering to the berm in left field.
Hart struck again in the top of the third after senior third baseman Tommy Richter blasted a pitch to the center field wall for a leadoff triple. Hart followed by lacing an RBI single back up the middle.
In the fourth, the Cougars blew the game open with back-to-back leadoff singles and an RBI double before Mlodzinski was pulled. Redshirt freshman reliever TJ Shook, however, didn't have much more success — an RBI groundout, walk and two-RBI singles made it 6-0.
"We treated tonight like a postseason game," Holbrook said. "It was obviously an awful enjoyable win for our players. They played awfully hard. ... They played a complete game. We have shown flashes of being able to do that. Tonight was about as good as we can play, and obviously it was a big win for our team."
The Gamecocks got their only scoring opportunity in the bottom half of the inning with a walk from senior third baseman Jonah Bride, a single from senior second baseman Justin Row and a hit by pitch for junior shortstop LT Tolbert to load the bases.
A strikeout by senior catcher Hunter Taylor, however, ended the inning, while also providing the game with its only drama — as Sisk returned to the dugout, he pumped his fists and appeared to exchange words with Tolbert, who had stared him down after getting hit. Before any skirmish could break out, however, coaches and umpires got in between the two and hustled them to their dugouts.
"I think it was just some heightened awareness there," Kingston said. "LT Tolbert got hit there, and I told him, 'There's no way that guy is hitting you on purpose. Not to load the bases.' I've been around the game long enough to know when a guy is getting thrown at and when he's not, and to load the bases, that's not the time."
South Carolina junior reliever Graham Lawson took over in the fifth inning, and Charleston's hit parade continued, with a double and three RBI singles, helped along by a wild pitch and passed ball, scoring three more runs.
The final four innings went by with no score, and most of the 5,800 or so fans in attendance were heading for the exits by the eighth.
"It was just one of those nights," Kingston remarked.
THREE POINTS
Star of the game: For Charleston, it was redshirt junior right fielder Bradley Dixon, who went 3-4 with two RBIs and a walk.
For South Carolina, maybe the only really positive performance of the night came from freshman pitcher John Gilreath, who has struggled as of late but threw 2 1/3 scoreless frames to stop the bleeding.
Play of the game: Hunter Taylor's strikeout in the bottom of the fourth with the bases loaded and two outs killed South Carolina's only real scoring opportunity and chance to make the game competitive.
Stat of the game: 5-10 leadoff hitting for College of Charleston, allowing the Cougars to pressure the Gamecock hurlers early and often.
OBSERVATIONS
Shoddy starting pitching: Mlodzinski was less than stellar from the get-go Wednesday, giving up a home run to the first batter of the game and never recovering, lasting just 3 1/3 innings. South Carolina starters have gone longer than 4 1/3 innings just once in the past seven games.
One-hit wonders: With only one hit Wednesday, South Carolina had a new season-worst performance. Jonah Bride and LT Tolbert both had 11-game hit streaks snapped.
"We've been hot for a while, so it hurts to see us only put up one hit, but ... you can't expect us to get all the hits we've been getting," Bride said. "I don't think it's a bump in the road. We've been playing some really good baseball, so we're all right, got our mind set on Missouri this weekend."
NEXT
Who: South Carolina (28-20, 13-11 SEC) vs. Missouri (30-18, 9-15 SEC)
When: 7 p.m. Friday, May 11
Where: Founders Park
Watch: Streaming online on SEC Network Plus via WatchESPN
Listen: 107.5 FM
Probable pitchers: South Carolina — Fr. RHP Logan Chapman (3-0, 4.72 ERA); Missouri — So. LHP TJ Sikkema (3-5, 3.81 ERA)
This story was originally published May 9, 2018 at 9:40 PM with the headline "USC flattened by College of Charleston as Chad Holbrook gets triumphant return."