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It was another good day for Carolina's newcomers at Founder's Park, especially John Jones and Chris Cullen, who were responsible for the majority of the team's runs this afternoon.
Cullen belted his first career homer to get the Gamecocks on the board with a 1-0 lead in the second inning. They added another run in the next inning, after another newbie, Chris Cullen, knocked his first career base hit, advanced to second on a bunt from Clark Scolamiero, moved to third on a passed ball, and came home on a Marcus Mooney bunt.
Albany tied the game in the fourth inning, courtesy of a two-run homer from Connor Powers. South Carolina regained the lead in the bottom of the inning, though, when Cullen made it 3-2 with a two-out RBI single.
Cullen tallied another RBI in the sixth inning, when he gave the Gamecocks a little more insurance with a run-scoring single. With two outs in the seventh inning, Jones brought two runners home with an RBI single to make it 6-2 in favor of the home team.
Much like yesterday, it was great to see South Carolina taking advantage of opportunities and coming through with clutch hitting. Given how much of an issue was last year, it's encouraging to see the team - and the new players, in particular - aren't struggling with it so far.
The Gamecocks also had a nice day defensively, especially DC Arendas, who made at least three really great plays in the field.
South Carolina's starter, Braden Webb, worked five innings and allowed just the two runs on one hit, walked three batters and struck out five. Reed Scott, Matt Vogel, and Josh Reagan also took the mound for the Gamecocks in the second game of this series. Scott and Reagan looked good in their appearances, but Vogel had a rougher day, lasting for just two batters.
With the win, South Carolina improves to 2-0 while the Danes drop to 0-2. The Gamecocks will go for the sweep tomorrow, with first pitch for the third game of the series set for 1:30 p.m. at Founder's Park. Taylor Widener will start on the mound for the home team, while Ryan Stiner will go for Albany.