South Carolina stays red hot, tops App State for seventh consecutive win
South Carolina baseball coach Mark Kingston got exactly what he was looking for from four pitchers as the Gamecocks prepare for this weekend’s three-game showdown with Clemson.
It wasn’t perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but it was good enough for a 3-1 victory over Appalachian State on Tuesday to run Carolina’s winning streak to seven games.
“We wanted to use guys in these midweek games and maybe sometimes on the weekend,” Kingston said. “We’re going to get guys in and get guys out. Let them pitch to their max and hand it off to the next guy. Tonight, I thought was a great example of that.”
Sophomore John Gilreath started and allowed one run on three hits in two innings. Sophomore Parker Coyne followed with Cam Tringali, Wesley Sweatt and Brett Kerry finishing it out without allowing a run over the final eight innings.
Tringali, Sweatt and Kerry were especially effective. The trio of freshmen combined to retire 16 of the 17 batters they faced with the only blemish being a walk issued by Tringali.
Tringali came in with runners on first and second with two outs and got a pop up on the infield to end the threat.
The pitching staff issued one walk with 11 strikeouts.
“It doesn’t matter who the opponent is or what the situation is, you still have to come in and do your job,” Tringali said. “You have to come in an get the job done no matter what.”
On offense, South Carolina (7-1) struggled against Mountaineers starter Brandon Boone through six innings. The senior right-hander limited the Gamecocks to four hits, but a couple of big ones in the early going turned out to be the difference. Boone allowed two runs on five hits with five strikeouts, one walk and one hit batter.
Senior third baseman Jacob Olson tied it at one when he connected on his team-leading fourth home run of the season with one out in the second inning.
An inning later, freshman left fielder Brady Allen walked to lead off the frame and scored on sophomore catcher Luke Berryhill’s double to left field. The Gamecocks added an insurance run in the eighth when Allen doubled, moved to third on a sacrifice bunt and scored on a sacrifice fly from senior center fielder TJ Hopkins.
“Not our best offensive game but was really proud of the pitching and defense,” Kingston said. “When you don’t score as much as you want, you have to be able to win with your pitching and defense and we clearly did that tonight.”
South Carolina returns to action on Friday at Clemson. First pitch is slated for a 6 p.m. start. Saturday’s game will take place at Fluor Field in Greenville at 1 p.m. with the series finale at Founders Park on Sunday. Game time for Sunday has been moved up an hour, with a noon start now scheduled.
Note: Noah Campbell was out of the starting lineup for the first time this season. He’s battling an injured back but should be fine this weekend. Chris Cullen started at first base but left after the second inning after tweaking his back as well.
This story was originally published February 26, 2019 at 6:38 PM.