South Carolina rides stellar starting pitching, home runs to midweek victory
One Gamecock finally got a major milestone out of the way. The other had the finest game of his young career.
Together, senior outfielder Noah Myers and freshman pitcher Jack Mahoney combined to lead South Carolina baseball to a 9-5 win over The Citadel at Founders Park on Tuesday.
Myers, a junior college transfer more known for his base-stealing prowess than his power, crushed his first career home run for No. 13 USC in the fourth inning — and the 361-foot blast to left came with the bases loaded. The grand slam blew the game wide open and marked Myers’ first hit since Opening Day.
“It was an awesome feeling, coming around and seeing the guys, how pumped up they were for me too, knowing that they have my back,” Myers said.
Tuesday also marked Myers’ first start since February — USC coach Mark Kingston put him in left field after deciding to rest starting catcher Colin Burgess and shift outfielder Josiah Sightler to the designated hitter spot.
“Noah Myers has been such a good teammate and such a hard worker and had such a great attitude, we wanted to reward him with that (start),” Kingston said. “And it was obviously a big hit for him and for us tonight. Great to see great kids get rewarded like that.”
Mahoney, meanwhile, made his fourth midweek start in a row his best yet, going 7 2/3 shutout innings, giving up just five hits and walking one while striking out six. He exited the game at 94 pitches, 63 of them for strikes.
“I had a really good feel for my offspeed tonight, and I think that started in the bullpen (before the game),” Mahoney said. “So once I knew I could put my pitches where I wanted to, I thought it could be a pretty good night. But obviously this is a Citadel team that really likes to swing it and they like to swing it early in counts, so just knew I had to attack all night.”
Myers and Mahoney weren’t the only Gamecocks to record big games — junior outfielder Brady Allen had a career-high four hits, including a two-run home run in the eighth that capped USC’s scoring, and junior catcher/first baseman Wes Clarke, the SEC’s home runs leader, broke out of a slump to go 3-for-3 with two walks.
“Our offense, it starts with Brady Allen and Wes Clarke, and when they’re going well, it seems like everything kind of falls into place behind them. And they both were tremendous tonight,” Kingston said.
Clarke also scored three times — once on Myers’ grand slam, once in the second inning when sophomore second baseman Braylen Wimmer lofted a two-run home run to left and one final time in the seventh when Wimmer sent a high pop-up just to the left of the pitcher’s mound. With two outs, Clarke had taken off from second with the contact, and when the ball plopped onto the infield grass between three fielders, he crossed home plate on what was scored as a double to the pitcher for Wimmer.
While Mahoney recorded nearly eight innings of shutout ball, The Citadel was able to significantly tighten the final score in the ninth, getting two-run and three-run home runs off freshman reliever Jackson Phipps.
NEXT USC BASEBALL GAME
Who: No. 13 South Carolina vs. No. 19 Ole Miss
When: 7:30 p.m. Friday
Where: Swayze Field, Oxford, Mississippi
Watch: Streaming online on SEC Network Plus via WatchESPN
This story was originally published April 27, 2021 at 10:00 PM.
