South Carolina Obliterates UMass-Lowell On Opening Day
South Carolina's Baseball team has received a decent amount of hype heading into this season, due to the pitchers returning from last season, along with the bevy of newcomers the Gamecocks added in the transfer portal this past offseason. The sport of baseball, however, can be quite fickle because it's hard to gauge how well a team will perform until they play regulation games that are officially recorded.
Based on their performance Friday afternoon, the Gamecocks could have the all-around hitting lineup to pair with their deep pitching staff, as South Carolina defeated the UMass-Lowell Riverhawks by seventeen runs. Preseason All-American Will Sanders got the start for South Carolina this afternoon and had a bit of an up-and-down performance. His inconsistent command caused the ball to rise on his fastballs and hang on his off-speed stuff, which led to him giving up six base runners collectively in the second and third innings, despite the Riverhawks only notching three hits in that stretch.
Sanders would settle down in the fourth inning, setting the Riverhawks down one-two-three and allowing James Hicks to come out of the bullpen for the next two innings and get some much-needed work in coming off his Tommy John surgery he had in early 2022. At the plate, the Gamecocks manufactured runs in various ways, scoring eight runs via home runs and six runs by being either hit by a pitch or forcing a fielder's choice.
Every Gamecock that started the game recorded at least one hit and one run at the plate, but the Gamecocks infield stole the show. Braylen Wimmer, Talmadge LeCroy, Cole Messina, and Will McGillis combined for ten hits, four home runs, and nine runs batted in. All in all, Mark Kingston and his staff have to be pleased with these results, as UMass-Lowell was a fringe tournament team this past season, so this kind of start can only do wonders for Gamecocks' confidence the rest of the weekend.
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