Photos: South Carolina rides dominant pitching to series win
On a day when South Carolina bats went cold, Noah Hall was red hot, leading the Gamecocks to a 1-0 series win over Penn.
Hall pitched eight shutout innings, striking out 12 on his way to win number two on the season. He was extremely efficient, not walking a batter. Ethan Petry provided all the offense South Carolina would need with a second inning home run into the Gamecock bullpen. It was Petry’s fifth bomb of the young season. Matthew Becker pitched a scoreless ninth to earn the save.
View photos for the win by scrolling through the gallery below, or click HERE to view captioned photos.
Baseball can be like a game of chess. One wrong move could be costly. It just so happened Ethan Petry was in that type of situation for the Gamecocks.
On a 1-2 pitch over the heart of the plate, Petry delivered a good swing. The ball kept carrying, sending the center fielder to the wall. As he looked back, the ball landed on a tent in the home bullpen. It was a solo homer that gave South Carolina a 1-0 lead in the second inning.
“I saw our hitters before getting blown up by fastballs up, and I wanted to push his fastball down,” Petry said. “He was getting me the get me over curveballs earlier in the count. But as soon as he got deep into counts, kind of threw them in the dirt, I knew I was going to get a dead red fastball. And I pushed him down already, so he just gave me it and I hit it.”
As it turned out, the Gamecocks only needed that one run. They rode Petry’s fifth homer of the year til the end to beat Penn 1-0. It marked another series victory and seventh straight win to open the new season.
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Besides the Petry home run, the Gamecocks couldn’t buy a hit at the plate. Quakers right-hander Cole Zaffiro pitched into the fifth, giving up one run on two hits and struck out seven. The other hit he gave up, a Braylen Wimmer triple that hit off the top of the right field wall in the first, was all for not. Caleb Denny and Gavin Casas struck out to end the early threat.
South Carolina struck out 12 times and left nine runners on-base. It went 4-for-15 (.267) in advancement opportunities but 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position. It was a far cry from the offensive outbursts to start the season.
“It’s going to happen sometimes when you have that kind of pitching,” Mark Kingston said. “The day was not favorable for hitters. We had a couple balls that were caught right at the top of the wall. Sometimes you just don’t get those breaks. And the guys have been doing so well all year. So you break on good job and let’s get them tomorrow.”
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But Noah Hall did his job in picking up the struggling offense. In eight brilliant innings, he allowed no runs on three hits and struck out a career-high 12 batters.
“I feed off emotion. I feed off the crowd. It really just like makes me want to pitch with more aggression,” Hall said. “When you got the crowd cheering for you like that, it really pumps you up and makes you want to do good for them.”
Hall’s pitch count stayed in good shape for the entirety of his time on the mound. He pitched three innings in which he retired the side.
While Hall was cruising, Kingston made sure not to say “a damn word” to him between innings.
“All I do is tell him great job at the end of every inning. Give him a big hug when he was done,” Kingston said. “He’s a competitor. To have a guy like that come back to school after being drafted, that’s what you need. And so he was an absolute competitor, great stuff. Had a 96 mile an hour fastball late in the game when he really need to reach back. He’s everything you want.”
Penn played tough, though, despite not putting runs on the board. The Quakers gave South Carolina and its fans a few scares with some deep fly balls to the warning track.
Petry, who was playing out in right field, said he definitely got nervous when some of those balls came his way. When Hall faced his final batter in the eighth, the ball traveled Petry’s way, but he managed to haul it in in front of the wall.
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After throwing 98 pitches, Hall’s day came to end. In the ninth, Matthew Becker came in and made quick work of Penn. He retired the side in order on 16 pitches, striking out two.
“I’m glad we had Hall and Becker,” Kingston said. “Tip our cap to (Penn’s) two guys, they were really good. But again, we were just one run better.”
Up next: South Carolina will try to sweep the series Sunday afternoon at Founders Park. Jack Mahoney (1-0, 0.00 ERA) will get the start on the mound on SEC Network Plus.
