In 133 years of Gamecock Baseball, Paul Mainieri is just the third head coach in program history to win his first six games leading the Gamecocks. On Saturday afternoon, Mainieri won his seventh game and his second series as the new skipper in Columbia.
It took just 10 pitches for Matthew Becker to retire the side for the Gamecocks to open Saturday's contest vs Milwaukee. In the bottom of the first, Kennedy Jones had an opportunity to get the first run on the board but struck out swinging. Becker then recorded three more consecutive outs with aid from the defense to send it to the bottom of the second. Jase Woita represented the first base runner for the Gamecock after a lead-off walk. In the very next at bat, senior Talmadge LeCroy wore a 90mph+ fastball to represent the second base runner. Milwaukee starter Logan Schulfer loaded the bases with another walk this time allowing Henry Kaczmar on first. With the bases juiced, KJ Scobey put a ground ball right up the heart of the Panthers defense to score LeCroy & Woita and give the Gamecocks a 2-0 lead. With no outs, Jordan Carrion then recorded his first hit as a Gamecocks sneaking it past the first baseman and scoring Henry Kaczmar. Junior Nathan Hall sent his first pitch to the warning track for a sacrifice fly that scored KJ Scobey. The inning ended with an Ethan Petry fly out to left field but not before the Gamecocks put up a four spot in the second.
The no hitter continued for the Gamecocks in the top of the third as Matthew Becker retired Kuhnke, Lethert, and Horn. Milwaukee then turned back to Logan Schulfer as the Panthers were able to escape the third with no runs allowed.
The fourth inning of play brought the first mistake of the game for the Gamecocks as Dalton Mashore was unable to reign in the potential second out of the inning near the warning track. Dalton had a play on the ball but the play was officially ruled a hit. A Tyler Bickers single down the third base line scored the first Panther of the day in Justin Hausser. The Gamecocks were able to get out of the inning only allowing one run as Q Phillips went down swinging.
Senior pitcher Logan Schulfer regained command in the bottom of the fourth inning as he struck out three consecutive Gamecocks in KJ Scobey, Jordan Carrion, and Nathan Hall.
The fifth inning produced two more strikouts as Matthew Becker went three up and three down through the bottom half of the Panther lineup. Through five, Becker had only allowed two hits and one run on 64 pitches.
Becker's day ended in the top of the sixth after allowing three hits, two runs, and tossing eight strike outs on 86 total pitches. The senior LHP was replaced by the sophomore Brandon Stone.
The bottom of the seventh inning showed great promise for the Gamecocks as they were able to load the bases with no outs. Ethan Petry then grounded into a double play but brought Carrion home to add one more to the Gamecocks lead. At the end of the seventh inning, the Gamecocks held a 6-2 lead over the visiting Panthers.
In the very next inning, the Gamecocks were able to get a double play of their own as Justin Hausser drove a ground ball right into the glove of Henry Kaczmar.
The Gamecocks put Brandon Stone back on the mound in the ninth to find the final three outs. Stone retired Tyler Bickers but then gave up a solo shot to junior Charlie Marion. Q Phillips then went down swinging to give South Carolina their second out of the inning. Pinch hitter John Hadley represented the Panthers final shot at a comeback trailing by three runs. The freshman grounded out to Jordan Carrion and the South Carolina Gamecocks notched their seventh win of the season in front of their home crowd.
