BASEBALL. APRIL 23, 2023

Gamecock Baseball Notebook​

COLUMBIA – The University of South Carolina baseball team went a perfect 4-0 on the week, defeating Charleston Southern on Tuesday night and sweeping a three-game series from Florida on the weekend.

Record: 34-6
SEC: 13-4
Home: 24-1
Away: 8-5
Neutral: 2-0
Streak: W4

Last Week:
4/18/23 – Charleston Southern (W, 10-4)
4/20/23 – Florida (W, 13-3 (7))
4/21/23 – Florida (W, 5-2)
4/22/23 – Florida (W, 7-5)

NOTES:
The three-game sweep of Florida was the first for the Gamecocks against a top-5 opponent since Carolina swept the No. 5 Gators at Founders Park in 2021. Carolina was either tied or led after each inning this weekend and had a team 2.88 ERA in the three games vs. Florida.

Will Sanders had his best start of the season in the win over the Gators. The righthander struck out 10 and allowed just three hits and two earned runs in six innings of work. Sanders has now struck out 29 Gators in 18 career innings and picked up his fourth win of the season on Thursday night.

Ethan Petry broke another freshman record at Carolina, as his two-run double on Saturday set the freshman RBI record. He now has 64 RBI and broke the record of 63, which was held by Justin Smoak. Petry had five hits (three of which were extra bases) and drove in eight in the series vs. Florida.

Petry’s overall numbers are gaudy but his SEC numbers are even more impressive. In 17 league contests, Petry is hitting .446 with three doubles, 13 home runs, 39 RBI, a 1.092 slugging percentage and a .519 on-base percentage. As of April 22, Petry is second behind LSU’s Dylan Crews in batting average in the SEC. He has the most hits (29), has four more home runs, eight more RBI and 14 more total bases than anyone else in the league despite having a conference game rained out vs. LSU.

Carolina moved into the top spot in the RPI on April 23. The Gamecocks are now 24-1 at Founders Park this season and have a 16-5 record against Quad 1 opponents (RPI 1-50 teams). Carolina has the third-best non-conference RPI and the sixth-highest strength of schedule.

Carolina won the final two games of the Florida series with three infielders (Gavin Casas, Will McGillis and Talmadge LeCroy) out of the lineup as well as starting pitcher Noah Hall. Michael Braswell was 4-for-8 with three doubles and three runs scored in the series while Will Tippett scored three runs in the series. Jonathan French had a big RBI single in Saturday’s win.

Matthew Becker stepped up in Saturday’s win over Florida and delivered a solid performance, allowing just two hits and two runs while striking out six in five innings of work to earn his fourth win of the season. Becker has 42 strikeouts in 29.1 innings of work this season.

Dylan Brewer went 4-for-5 with three runs scored and a pair of doubles in Saturday’s win over Florida. Brewer has a .278 batting average with six home runs and 16 RBI this season.

Next Week
4/28/23 – Auburn, 7 p.m. (SECN+)
4/29/23 – Auburn, 4 p.m. (SECN+)
4/30/23 – Auburn, 12 p.m. (SEC Network)