Davidson baseball snaps skid against South Carolina that dated back to 1976
South Carolina returned home stinging from a weekend sweep at Texas with a goal to get back in the win column. It didn’t happen Wednesday.
Davidson defeated No. 16 USC 9-4 on a cool, damp night at Founders Park. The Wildcats scored five runs in the third and two more in the fourth off USC freshman pitchers Travis Luensmann (four runs, two earned) and Jackson Phipps (three earned runs). Davidson added a run in the fifth and sixth innings.
The Gamecocks (11-4) were 11-0 before the current four-game losing streak. They got 5.2 shutout innings from five different pitchers Wednesday.
“They played better than we did tonight,” USC coach Mark Kingston said. “We pitched well at the beginning and the end, and obviously in the middle it was a struggle. ... It was freshmen getting opportunities and they just need to do a better job making pitches. It’s that simple.”
The schedule only gets harder from here. South Carolina now moves into SEC play, with a series at No. 2 Vanderbilt this weekend followed by a home series next weekend vs. No. 5 Florida. The Gamecocks over the course of 10 conference series in 2021 play all five teams ranked in the top five of the latest D1Baseball poll.
“All you do is you get on the bus, you prepare yourself, you prepare your team and you go out there and compete,” Kingston said. “That’s the story of baseball. You’re gonna go on hot streaks, you’re gonna get in a funk every now and then, and the schedule is gonna keep coming at you. Our job is to get on the bus and go compete.”
South Carolina, 49-22-1 against Davidson all time, had won 24 straight in the series. The streak dated back to 1976.
The Wildcats (6-8) had a four-game losing streak of their own coming into Wednesday. They were swept last weekend by The Citadel, being outscored 29-4.
Game notes
USC’s Wes Clarke hit his 10th home run of the season Wednesday, a solo shot in the seventh inning
South Carolina first baseman David Mendham drove in two runs.
The Gamecocks used nine pitchers.
- Parker Bangs, a member of South Carolina’s 2010 national championship team, is now Davidson’s pitching coach.
- The game was postponed a day because of weather concerns. The teams still had to battle with rain through the night Wednesday.
- Jalen Vasquez, a freshman from Fort Dorchester High School in North Charleston, played second base and made his first career college start Wednesday.
- The game, the longest of the season, lasted four hours and 12 minutes.
Next USC baseball game
Who: South Carolina at Vanderbilt
When: 7:30 p.m Friday, noon Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday
Where: Hawkins Field in Nashville
Watch: Streamed via SEC Network Plus on Friday and Sunday, with Saturday’s game televised on SEC Network
This story was originally published March 17, 2021 at 11:14 PM.
