The South Carolina baseball team opened their 2011 campaign with a 12-5 win over Santa Clara.
Junior Michael Roth started for the Gamecocks and threw 5.2 innings for South Carolina allowing only two runs while junior Jackie Bradley, Jr. went 4-for-4 for USC including a 2-run HR and three RBI in the opening day victory in front of a sell out crowd at Carolina Stadium.
Roth was pulled with two outs in the sixth after he failed to record the final out. He finished with a career-high six strikeouts and earned his first win of the year. Santa Clara starter Brock Simon took the loss, allowing five runs on 10 hits in 5.2 innings.
The Gamecocks took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third on a Jackie Bradley, Jr. RBI base hit that scored Scott Wingo. They later extended the lead to 4-0 with help from a Bradley, Jr. two run homer in a three run fifth inning for South Carolina.
Santa Clara narrowed the Carolina lead to 4-2 in the top of the sixth with a pair of RBI singles from Pat Stover and Kyle DeMerritt, but the Gamecocks answered back in the bottom half of the inning with two runs, thanks to the help of five consecutive walks, to make the score 6-2.
After a scoreless seventh, the Broncos tallied three runs in the top of the eighth with six straight one out singles. Ray Tanner went to the bullpen and senior right hander John Taylor was able to induce a big double play that left three Broncos stranded.
The Gamecocks answered right back in the bottom half of the eighth with six runs, thanks in part to a 12 pitch at bat by Bradley, Jr. that resulted in a RBI double in the gap, a three-run homer from Christian Walker and a two-run shot by Scott Wingo. Robert Beary also added a sac-fly to give the Gamecocks a 12-5 lead, which would turn final after the top half of the ninth.
South Carolina will host game two of the 2011 opening series with Santa Clara tomorrow at 3 p.m. and game three will be Sunday at 1:30 p.m.
No comments:
Post a Comment