COLUMBIA (WACH) – Three South Carolina pitchers combined for 16 strikeouts and the Gamecocks held off a late Elon rally to earn a 3-2 win on Saturday afternoon in front of 7,606 fans at Carolina Stadium.
South Carolina is now 5-0 on the year with Elon dropping to 4-2 for the season. The series finale on Sunday is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. at Carolina Stadium.
Junior right-hander Matt Price (1-0) was effective in his second start of the year allowing just one hit in five scoreless innings and struck out eight batters, tying a career-high he set two years ago vs. Valparaiso. Junior left-hander Tyler Webb followed up Price and was equally effective with 3 2/3 innings of work and just one hit allowed while also tying his career-high with seven strikeouts. Both runs that Webb allowed were unearned. Sophomore right-hander Forrest Koumas retired the final out of the game with a strikeout to pick up his second save of the season. The three pitchers limited Elon to just three hits for the entire game.
USC scored twice in the bottom of the 3rd on an RBI single by Christian Walker (now with 8 RBI on the season) and a Grayson Greiner RBI fielder's choice. The Gamecocks went up 3-0 in the 5th on a bases-loaded double play grounder by Walker.
Elon had only two base runners through the first eight innings but threatened in the ninth inning and took advantage of a Gamecock error to put a runner on base. With two outs and runners on first and second base, Elon got on the scoreboard with a RBI single off the bat of Alex Swim that was followed by a RBI single from Garret Koster. With two runners still on base, Koumas preserved the Gamecock victory with a strikeout against Elon pinch hitter Connor Lewis.
Tanner English led Carolina at the plate with a 2-for-4 day with a run scored. Both teams combined for 10 hits, all singles.
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