South Carolina picks up midweek win over Gardner-Webb

It was easy to look ahead instead of focusing on what would come next. Another midweek game? No problem. There are more meaningful games to come.

But for a time on Tuesday, it wasn’t as easy as it sounded. After struggling early, No. 19 South Carolina (8-1) finally broke through to earn a 7-1 win over Gardner-Webb.

“We had to grind that one out. I thought their pitchers did a very nice job of using their stuff and keeping us off-balance and throwing their off speed pitches for strikes,” head coach Mark Kingston said. “So I tip my cap to them, but I also think our pitching and defense was at a very high level tonight.”

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Freshman right-hander Eddie Copper made his second start of the year for the Gamecocks. After working through the first inning, he gave up a solo homer to Gardner Webb’s Humberto Torres to begin the second.

After that, though, Copper started to pitch really well. He retired the next seven batters he faced in order before allowing a double in the fourth. But he managed to get two immediate ground outs to end that potential threat.

“I had all my pitches today, slider was working in the zone, out of the zone. I was able to locate my fastball on both sides of the plate,” Copper said. “My defense was playing amazing behind me. I mean, every ball hit to the left side was gobbled up by either (Will) Tippett or (Talmadge) LeCroy over there. Just having the confidence that if they do put the ball in play it’s going to be an out.”

Meanwhile, South Carolina struggled to put up any runs for Copper in the early going. The Gamecocks had a runner in scoring position with one out in the fourth but couldn’t get the job done.

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In the next inning, however, Dylan Brewer got on base with a one-out walk. He’d proceed to steal second and advance to third on a throw that sailed into the outfield. Ethan Petry and Cole Messina both followed suit with walks of their own to load the bases.

With LeCroy at the plate, he got hit by a pitch, giving South Carolina its first run of the night. The good situational baseball continued as Tyler Causey hit a sacrifice fly to bring home another run.

Parker Noland singled into center field to drive a third run in the frame. But the real blow came when Gavin Casas clobbered an 0-1 pitch into right field that left the ballpark entirely. It was a 429-foot, three-run homer that gave the Gamecocks a 6-1 lead.

“I was quite happy with it as was everybody,” Kingston said. “He’s been really swinging the bat well probably for his last 12 at-bats I would say. You kind of saw the light go on recently where I think it all started with that two-strike double he hit to left center field off the wall. Ever since that, he’s been really good. He’s been locked in…He’s been the Gavin Casas that he was last year.”

Petry came back up to the plate again and drew a bases-loaded walk to cap off what would be an impressive seven-run frame.

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Back on the bump, Copper delivered a terrific outing as he pitched five innings of one-run ball. He only gave up three hits and struck out five while walking one.

“For right now what he’s doing, he just needs to keep building on it,” Kingston said. “He’s comfortably our Tuesday guy right now. I mean, five innings on 61 pitches for a freshman is incredible. So we’ll just continue to run him out there in that role and let him continue to hopefully get better and better.”

Ty Good came on in relief in the sixth and retired the side in order. He’d come back out to start the seventh but a 19-minute rain delay caused him to take a minor break.

Once the delay was over and he came back out to pitch, he was in a tough jam. Runners on the corners with one out. But he got a strike out followed by a fly out to work out of trouble.

After Good’s night came to an end, Tyler Dean was next up to pitch in the eighth. While he gave up two hits, he worked through some trouble and got out unscathed.

In the ninth, Connor McCreery pitched a 1-2-3 frame to seal the deal and give South Carolina the win.

BOX SCORE: Gardner-Webb at South Carolina Box Score

Up next: South Carolina will begin a three-game series with No. 10 Clemson starting Friday night at Founders Park. First pitch is at 7 p.m. on SEC Network Plus. Eli Jones (1-0, 1.00 ERA) should be in line to make the start on the mound.