Gamecocks smack five home runs, clinch series win over Dayton
Going into the 2021 season, coach Mark Kingston was excited about how many power arms South Carolina baseball would feature on the mound.
Two games in, the Gamecocks have shown plenty of power at the plate, too.
With a barrage of five home runs Saturday, USC overwhelmed Dayton 12-5 to clinch a series win for its Opening Weekend. Juniors Wes Clarke and Brady Allen and sophomores Braylen Wimmer and Colin Burgess all went yard, putting the Gamecocks at seven homers on the year after two long balls on Friday.
“I think we’re seeing the ball very well. Just hitting off our pitchers in the spring I think has really gotten us ready for Opening Day and the following series,” Allen said.
Clarke led the way with two home runs to add to the one he smacked in the season opener. Just like Friday, he went deep in the first inning, taking the first pitch he saw to the left field stands. Then in the eighth, he rocked a 1-0 offering to deep center for a three-run shot. Along with an run-scoring single in the third inning, Clarke is at nine RBIs after just two games with a 2.286 slugging percentage.
“We have a lot of confidence in Wes, obviously,” Kingston said. “He works extremely hard, he cares a great deal and he’s a talented hitter. So when you put all those together, you get a really good hitter and an elite player. And that’s what he’s developed into. .... Can’t say I’m surprised, but the level he’s playing at right now is pretty impressive.
“It’s crazy,” Allen added. “He’s just feeling omnipresent right now, and he’s really feeling good in the box and just putting good swings on balls.”
Wimmer, meanwhile, was the one who put USC up for good in the second inning, drilling a home run to left field to make it 3-1. That homer also redeemed Wimmer after he got off to a rough start in the field. Making his first career start in center, he lost a ball in the sun in the first inning, leading to a double, then dropped a fly ball two batters later for an error, allowing a run to score and Dayton to take the early lead.
“He showed what his tools are today, but he also showed why he’s still a work-in-progress. Mentally, I thought it showed some fortitude. That was tough, he had two tough plays early in the game and we’re behind 1-0 and there’s a little bit of anxiety in the park, and I thought he did a great job,” Kingston said.
Burgess got in on the home run parade in the fifth, taking another pitch into the left field stands for a solo blast, and Allen tacked on another in the seventh inning with an opposite field shot. The Gamecocks manufactured some runs as well, getting a pair of sacrifice flies and executing a perfect hit-and-run to pad their lead.
On the mound, senior Brannon Jordan wasn’t quite as sharp as Thomas Farr was on Opening Day. After the defense let him down in that first inning, he got into trouble himself in the second, walking three batters and dealing with a passed ball and wild pitch that loaded the bases.
He was able to escape the jam after throwing 30 pitches in the frame, but another rough patch struck in the fifth, when Jordan walked a batter and hit another, then surrendered a three-run home run with no outs that spelled the end of his outing. His replacement, junior Josiah Sightler, loaded the bases with a walk, single and another hit batter, and a wild pitch scored a run to tighten the game to 6-5.
The rest of the Gamecock bullpen, though, kept the Flyers in check with just one baserunner over the final four innings. Redshirt junior Andrew Peters in particular settled things down with two perfect innings after Sightler, striking out three.
“The first word that comes to mind is confidence. Confidence and then trust would be the other one,” Peters said of USC’s bullpen. “After I was done and even after (Jordan) was done and just seeing all the guys down there being in the bullpen, I’m just looking around and thinking to myself, ‘There’s not a single guy that can’t get the job done.’”
Game 1 summary
After 346 days away, Opening Day may not have carried quite the same energy for South Carolina baseball on Friday, with the crowd at Founders Park reduced to a quarter of its usual size due to COVID-19 restrictions.
But the No. 18 Gamecocks gave the fans present plenty to buzz about, jumping out to an early lead and not letting up in an easy 12-1 win over Dayton.
All told, nine of South Carolina’s 15 hits on the game went for extra bases, with junior outfielder Brady Allen collecting two doubles and a triple, senior outfielder Andrew Eyster homering and tripling, and junior DH Wes Clarke adding a home run and double. That trio accounted for nine of Carolina’s RBIs and eight of their runs.
On the mound, redshirt junior Thomas Farr motored through six mostly clean innings. His fastball hit 97 miles per hour on the stadium radar gun, and his offspeed pitches produced plenty of swings and misses, with eight strikeouts. The lone run he gave up came on a home run in the sixth inning, after the Gamecocks were already well ahead.
NEXT USC BASEBALL GAME
Who: South Carolina vs. Dayton
When: Noon Sunday
Where: Founders Park
Watch: Streaming online on SEC Network Plus via WatchESPN
This story was originally published February 20, 2021 at 4:19 PM.
