On a chilly, windy day at Founders Park on Tuesday, things went sideways for South Carolina baseball in a hurry. Then, inning by inning, the Gamecocks clawed their way back against Winthrop.
By the end of the night, USC had scrapped all the way back, scoring eight unanswered runs to claim an 8-6 win.
“Tough conditions out there. Started real, real sloppy out there for us, but I’m proud that we were able to right the ship,” coach Mark Kingston said. “I told the guys, that’s a growth moment for our team, and it helps the psyche of your team to know that you can do this.”
As Kingston noted, the comeback only came about after a dreadful start for USC — sophomore pitcher TJ Shook issued a leadoff walk in the top of the first inning, then gave up a pair of doubles to score two runs. The Eagles got a third when junior catcher Luke Berryhill made an errant throw to third base after a wild pitch.
Shook was pulled in the second inning after giving up a leadoff double, but Winthrop added two more runs off reliever Cam Tringali, who committed a throwing error on a sacrifice bunt and tossed another wild pitch. The Eagles’ last run of the day came in the third against Trinagli, as the leadoff batter singled, stole second, advanced to third on a groundout and raced home on another single.
“They were just throwing pitches in the middle of the plate,” Kingston said of Shook and Tringali. “ ... They have good stuff, but you can’t throw the ball in the middle of the plate, because teams of this level will hit the ball.”
Down 6-0, Carolina’s rally started in the bottom half of the third.
“We put up 13 runs the other night (against Liberty), so I knew six runs in seven innings, that was nothing for us,” Berryhill said. “I knew we could do it and I was trying to rally the guys around and everyone was just positive the whole time.”
After going hitless in the first two frames, USC cracked the scoreboard after junior right fielder Andrew Eyster singled through the left side of the infield. Sophomore second baseman Noah Campbell followed with a walk with two outs, freshman designated hitter Quinntin Perez was hit by a pitch and senior center fielder TJ Hopkins walked, driving in a run.
The Gamecocks continued to chip away with one more run in the fourth after senior third baseman Jacob Olson reached on an infield single and senior first baseman Chris Cullen and freshman left fielder Brady Allen drew back-to-back walks to load the bases. With two outs, Campbell tapped a soft grounder to the shortstop that was muffed, scoring a run.
Two more runs crossed the plate in the fifth as Hopkins beat out an infield single and scored on a double down the left-field line from Berryhill. Two grounds balls advanced Berryhill around the bases and home.
While the Gamecocks’ offense was steadily gaining ground, sophomore Parker Coyne, who came on in relief of Tringali to start the fourth inning, kept the Eagles in check by throwing three one-hit innings and striking out six.
“He gave us a huge lift and he kind of settled the ship and allowed us to at least have a chance to come back. I don’t think it’s any coincidence that once he got into the game and started pitching really, really well, that’s when we started scoring,” Kingston said.
Coyne, who did not pitch at all in USC’s opening weekend series against Liberty, was credited with the win after pitching through near-freezing temperatures he admitted were “tough” to throw in.
“Coach Kingston told us before the game, no one’s gonna look at the weather. Everyone’s just gonna look at the score, so you just gotta play the game of baseball, no matter what the conditions are,” Coyne said.
In the bottom half of the seventh, the Gamecocks stormed into the lead with a furious two-out rally. Campbell singled on a grounder to left field, Perez reached after his ground ball squirted between the legs of the second baseman, Hopkins doubled to left, scoring one, and Berryhill singled through the left side of the infield, scoring two more.
The Gamecocks added an insurance run in the eighth after Campbell doubled and scored on a throwing error, but they didn’t need it as junior closer Sawyer Bridges bounced back from a blown save on Friday against Liberty to record a seven-out save, complete with a smart play in the eighth — after giving up a leadoff double, Bridges caught a ground ball and, falling off the mound, fired a strike to third base to get the lead runner.
“It was pretty heart-breaking on that Friday, I kind of blew it for us, so I definitely was itching to get back out there and help our team win a game” Bridges said.
NEXT
The Gamecocks are scheduled to return to Founders Park on Wednesday for another midweek game against Presbyterian at 4 p.m. The game will be streamed online on SEC Network Plus via WatchESPN.
This story was originally published February 19, 2019 7:33 PM.
