South Carolina’s bats come to life in rout of George Washington
The time for experimentation is now.
The South Carolina baseball team’s schedule will soon ramp up in difficulty, with rival Clemson on deck next weekend and a series at home against No. 1 Texas preceding the start of the SEC play.
This weekend’s series against visiting George Washington (0-4) represents an opportunity for a final tune-up of sorts.
So far, so good.
The Gamecocks (4-1) crushed George Washington pitching in a 13-4 rout of the Colonials on Friday, and head coach Mark Kingston used the game as an opportunity to tinker with the starting lineup and play new faces.
Freshmen Carson Hornung and Cole Messina both made their first career starts for the Gamecocks, with Messina DHing and batting leadoff and Hornung playing left field.
Hornung showed his upside at the plate, hitting a booming opposite-field two-run double in the third inning. And though it was a quiet night for Messina at the plate (0 for 6), the Gamecocks coaching staff is bullish on his offensive potential.
The Gamecocks had offensive production up and down the lineup, with USC posting 12 hits. Familiar face Andrew Eyster was yet again a key cog, picking up four hits and driving in two runs. Missouri transfer Brandt Belk added three RBI on two hits, sliding down to fifth in the lineup after leading off to start the season. And eye-popping freshman Michael Braswell continued his hot start to his career, tripling and driving in a run on a single.
“We have depth position-player wise that we’ll be able to use in a number of different ways,” Kingston said. “A lot of it will have to do with who’s our opponent? What’s the weather doing? On days when the wind’ss blowing out, you may see a different team than when the wind’s blowing in. You may need to be more athletic, have more speed on those days. So we have options. We have guys that are continuing to get more comfortable, and they’ll get better as we go.”
The Gamecocks provided much more run support than Friday ace Will Sanders needed. The sophomore right-hander pitch seven strong innings, allowing three runs on six hits and striking out five while routinely touching 94 miles per hour on the stadium radar gun. Similar to his first start of the season, Sanders’ lone mistakes came on long balls. He allowed two solo homers to the Colonials but took control of the game otherwise.
Saturday doubleheader: With rain in the forecast for Sunday, the two teams were set to conclude their series with doubleheader Saturday.
Next USC baseball game
Who: South Carolina vs. Appalachian State
When: 6 p.m. Tuesday
Where: Truist Field in Charlotte, NC
This story was originally published February 25, 2022 at 6:56 PM.
