April 20, 2010
COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina junior reliever Jose Mata hurled 4.2 scoreless innings of relief to pick up his third win of the year and freshman right-hander Ethan Carter pitched a scoreless ninth to earn his second save as South Carolina defeated USC Upstate 4-2 on Tuesday evening at Carolina Stadium. The Gamecocks are now 29-8 on the year while the loss drops USC Upstate to 13-29 for the season. Carolina heads on the road to face Georgia this weekend in a three-game series beginning on Friday at 6:30 p.m. in Athens.
With the score deadlocked at 2-2, the Gamecocks broke ahead by a pair of runs in the bottom of the sixth inning. Jackie Bradley Jr. opened the frame with a single also connecting with a one-out base hit that put the runners on the corners. Nick Ebert came up big for Carolina then as he knocked a RBI double down the right field line scoring Bradley and giving the Gamecocks a one-run edge. That lead then increased to 4-2 as Marzilli score on Adrian Morales’ RBI sacrifice fly to center field.
The two-run lead was enough for the Gamecocks as Mata continued his stellar outing of relief. He allowed just two hits and struck out two batters in the victory. Mata is now 3-0 for the season and has a 1.54 ERA out of the pen after 16 appearances and 23.1 innings pitched. Sophomore left-hander Michael Roth struck out the only batter he faced and Carter closed out the ninth with a pair of strikeouts as he picked up his second save of the season. USC Upstate starter Gaither Bumgardner suffered the loss and is now 0-5 on the year. He allowed four runs on seven hits in 5.1 innings with two strikeouts and two walks.
Carolina and USC Upstate each finished with seven hits. Bradley went 2-for-4 with two runs scored with Ebert also going 2-for-3 at the plate for the Gamecocks. Brody Greer was 3-for-4 with a run scored to lead the Spartans.
USC Upstate broke ahead 2-0 on the Gamecocks with single runs in the third and fourth innings. Brian Dempsey tallied a RBI single in the third inning and Tyler Miller drove in a run in the fourth with a sacrifice fly. Gamecock starter Colby Holmes had to leave the game in the fourth inning after he injured his right hand off a line drive. He will have X-rays on Wednesday morning.
Trailing 2-0, the Gamecocks cut the deficit in half in the bottom of the fourth inning. Jackie Bradley Jr. led off with a single and advanced to third on a double down the right field line by Jeffery Jones. Bradley would score off of Christian Walker’s RBI ground out. Carolina tied the game in the fifth inning as Robert Beary singled and with two outs on third base scored on a wild pitch issued by Bumgardner.
