Gamecocks feeling Super! USC downs UNCW to capture regional crown
On a day nice enough to play two, South Carolina baseball needed just one game to claim the necessary win against UNC-Wilmington to advance to an NCAA tournament Super Regional on Monday.
With more than a dozen hits, over two dozen baserunners and intense offensive pressure, the Gamecocks (36-24) knocked off the Seahawks 8-4 to claim the Greenville Regional with a perfect 3-0 record.
After rain and lightning forced USC to play deep into the night Saturday and kept it from taking the field at all Sunday, the skies above Clark-LeClair Stadium were clear Monday. With a day's rest under their belts, the Gamecocks got another solid starting pitching performance from freshman Carmen Mlodzinski, while every player in the lineup reached base at least once.
"They played clean, they played well. They hit some pretty good pitches at times and didn't miss mistakes when they got opportunities," UNCW coach Mark Scalf said of South Carolina.
UNC-Wilmington, meanwhile, entered the contest with a depleted pitching staff and one loss in three games, and the hurlers' fatigue showed — in four innings Monday, Carolina loaded the bases; and in three others, it advanced a runner into scoring position. That led to a season-high 17 runners left on base by USC, but despite the high number of opportunities missed, the squad never lost its composure, Carolina coach Mark Kingston said.
"We have some very good seniors," Kingston said. "They make sure that they're echoing in the dugout that no matter what we keep fighting, that you don't get down no matter what. You just have to keep pushing forward."
The Gamecocks broke through for their first runs of the day in the top of the third, as sophomore left fielder Carlos Cortes, who posted a career-high four hits, singled up the middle to lead off, then advanced to second on a slow ground ball from senior third baseman Jonah Bride, who beat the throw for an infield single.
The bases were loaded with a walk to senior second baseman Justin Row, and after a foul out from senior designated hitter Madison Stokes, senior catcher Hunter Taylor ripped a hard ground ball back up the middle that UNCW freshman shortstop Greg Jones got his glove on, only to push the ball into shallow right, allowing two runs to score and Taylor to advance to second for an infield double.
The Seahawks got a run back in the bottom half of the frame as Jones was hit by a pitch and moved to second on a ground out. With two outs, senior first baseman Mason Berne singled just to the left on second base, plating Jones.
But the Gamecocks created some separation in the top of the sixth as junior center fielder Danny Blair, who earned regional MVP honors by going 5-10 with three runs and three RBIs, walked to lead off the frame, then raced to third on a ground ball single from Cortes. A sacrifice fly from Stokes to left field scored Blair, and an error on a fielder's choice and a walk loaded the bases. Junior shortstop LT Tolbert then ripped a line drive just past the second baseman's reach, scoring one.
UNCW responded once again in the bottom half of the inning, as Mlodzinski issued a full-count walk, then gave up a two-run home run to the right field corner to sophomore right fielder Kep Brown. That marked the end of his outing, with five innings pitched, three runs, four hits, three walks and three strikeouts.
"The guy that pitched today had some struggles throughout the year, and some of the Tuesday games that we didn't think we should lose necessarily, he was on the mound, getting experience, taking some lumps along the way. But that's why you have to do that ... so when you need them on a regional setting, they're ready," coach Mark Kingston said.
Mlodzinski was replaced by junior Eddy Demurias, who threw three innings for the second time this weekend, and South Carolina extended its lead for good in the seventh, as Blair reached second on an error, Cortes was intentionally walked and Stokes laced a two-RBI double to the right-center field gap, his first hit of the regional.
"We had the lead early in the game, and just to put up some insurance runs up later in the game for sure helped Eddy on the mound, so it felt good," Stokes said.
In the top of the ninth, Bride put an exclamation point on the contest with a two-run home run to left with Stokes on board, and sophomore Sawyer Bridges came in to close out the game, completing a weekend in which the USC bullpen gave up just one earned run.
"Anytime you come back and score and take a bigger lead, you want to go out there and close them, go back out there and keep them on the losing side," Demurias said.
With the win, Kingston has reached his first Super Regional as a coach in his first season with the Gamecocks, who now have made a Super Regional for the second time in three seasons. But in the aftermath of the victory, USC kept its celebration relatively subdued.
"We've been through the lowest of lows. We've proven to the country what we can do. So to be this far, to prove what we can do to everyone watching, that just shows the team we have, the potential we have," Stokes explained. "We're not done yet. We expected to be here; and now that we're here, we expect to make it further than that, so we're not going to stop."
NEXT
Who: South Carolina (36-24) vs. Arkansas (42-18)
When: 6:30 p.m. Saturday, 3 p.m. Sunday and (if necessary) 7 p.m. Monday
Where: Baum Stadium, Fayetteville, Ark.
Watch: ESPN2 Saturday, followed by ESPN Sunday and (if necessary) Monday
Listen: 107.5 FM
This story was originally published June 4, 2018 at 4:53 PM with the headline "Gamecocks feeling Super! USC downs UNCW to capture regional crown."