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After the past few weeks of tense late innings and rough/sad/questionable performances, it was nice to watch a game and not have to stress out at all.
USC took a 1-0 lead in the third inning, thanks to an RBI double from Marcus Mooney that brought Logan Koch across the plate. That score held until the sixth inning, when the Gamecocks blew the game wide open.
Joey Pankake led off with a single, Kyle Martin walked, and Grayson Greiner knocked an RBI double to make it 2-0. Patrick Harrington followed with an RBI single, DC Arendas contributed an RBI base hit too, and suddenly it was 4-0. A passed ball gave the Gamecocks another run, then an error brought in two more runs for Carolina, bumping the score up to 7-0.
The Gamecocks had a chance to add even more runs in the seventh, but left the bases loaded instead. Greiner came through with a sac fly to make it 8-0 in the eighth, and the Wildcats couldn't muster any sort of an answer in the ninth.
Starter Reed Scott worked four innings and allowed five hits, no runs, issued no walks, and struck out one batter. Taylor Widener, Josh Reagan, John Parke, and Hunter Privette combined to go the rest of the way for the Gamecocks. Widener retired every batter he faced tonight and earned the win. He is now 3-0 this season. The pitching staff pretty much shut down the Davidson offense entirely, which is impressive, because the Wildcats have been lauded for their offensive performances pretty much all season.
Davidson starter Clark Beeker lasted three innings and gave up three hits, one run, didn't walk any batters, and tallied one K. Six other pitchers also took the hill for the visitors.
Arendas and Koch each had two hits to lead USC, while Sam Foy also had two to pace the Wildcats. Martin extended his hitting streak to 10 games and Harrington's RBI in the sixth was his first hit as a Gamecock.
This is the 12th shutout of the season for South Carolina, and they improve to 31-10, while Davidson drops to 23-11. The Gamecocks will be back in action tomorrow night, when they host USC Upstate. First pitch is scheduled for 7 p.m.