Gamecocks grab 4-2 win over Coastal Carolina

South Carolina bounced back from losing its first SEC games of the season this past weekend to beat Coastal Carolina 4-2 Tuesday night at Founders Park.

The eighth-ranked Gamecocks had lost three of four before topping Coastal. USC (25-5, 7-2) resumes SEC play this weekend hosting Tennessee.

“(Coastal has) the makings of a regional-host type team. With their RPI as high as it is, and our RPI in pretty good shape, I thought it would be an important game for a lot of different reasons,” USC coach Chad Holbrook said. “It was good to come out with the win.”

Junior Taylor Widener (1-1) earned his first victory of the season, pitching five innings and allowing two runs, one earned, with five strikeouts.

Widener had allowed eight runs in 11 innings over his previous three starts before pitching well against the Chanticleers.

“I definitely felt more comfortable today than I have this whole year,” the right-hander said. “I had better fastball command than I’ve had, and I guess that just set the tone for me to pitch better than I have.”

Three USC relievers combined to shutout Coastal for four innings, led by junior Josh Reagan, who earned his eighth save.

Relievers Reed Scott and Brandon Murray each pitched a scoreless inning for USC before Reagan finished off Coastal.

South Carolina took a quick 2-0 lead in the first inning as Dom Thompson-Williams hit a double to right-center to score LT Tolbert, and Jonah Bride grounded out to score John Jones.

USC extended its lead to 3-0 in the fourth inning on a sacrifice fly by TJ Hopkins before Coastal responded with a run in the fifth and another in the sixth to cut the lead to 3-2.

Marcus Mooney gave the Gamecocks an insurance run in the seventh inning by scoring on a wild pitch.

The Gamecocks pounded out eight hits on the chilly evening, led by Thompson-Williams and DC Arendas, who each had two.

Zack Hopeck suffered the loss for Coastal, allowing three earned runs in 3 1/3 innings of work. G.K. Young and Connor Owings each had two hits for the Chanticleers.

THREE POINTS

Star of the game: Widener: He started the season in the weekend rotation before struggling on the mound and with a back injury. If he can continue to pitch like he did Tuesday night, that’s a big plus for USC.

Play of the game: Trailing 3-2 in the seventh inning, Coastal had two runners in scoring position with two outs and Michael Paez at the plate, but Murray got Paez to foul out to first on a 3-2 count to get out of the inning.

Stat of the game: 6: Second baseman DC Arendas, who is known for his glove, has reached base six times in his last eight at-bats.

OBSERVATIONS

Stokes gives USC another power hitter: Madison Stokes made his first start of the season and went 1-for-4 from the DH spot. Holbrook said he looked like a big leaguer as he hit several balls hard.

Holding Coastal to 5 hits impressive: The Chanticleers entered Tuesday’s game with seven players batting better than .300 but managed only five hits against USC’s staff.

NEXT

What: South Carolina vs. Tennessee, Game 1

When: 7 p.m. Friday

Where: Founders Park

Probable pitchers: USC – Clarke Schmidt (So. RHP); Tennessee – Aaron Soto (So. LHP)

Watch: SEC Network Plus (Digital)

Radio: 107.5 FM

This story was originally published April 5, 2016 at 9:54 PM with the headline "Gamecocks grab 4-2 win over Coastal Carolina."