Story by Matt Smith
Reid Morgan spun another gem and the Gamecock offense made it stand up in South Carolina’s 4-0 win over Auburn, Saturday afternoon at Founders Park. Morgan (3-0) starved one of the SEC’s best offenses, going seven scoreless innings, and lowering his ERA to 1.88.
Freshman DH Ian Jenkins sparked the offense with a solo home run in the 2nd inning. It was Jenkins’ fourth homer, all solo shots, in only 32 at-bats. Jenkins would later add an RBI groundout in a quirky 6th inning that saw the Gamecocks plate three runs without a hit.
Right-hander Brett Kerry picked up in the 8th where Morgan left off, closing out the Tigers with a pair of scoreless frames. Head coach Mark Kingston noted relievers Wes Sweatt and Cam Tringali are both available heading into Sunday’s series finale, “The good thing about getting innings out of our starters this weekend, is we didn’t have to burn those guys too much. So far, this weekend, we’ve gotten good starting pitching and haven’t had to overtax those bullpen guys.”
Shortstop George Callil rapped out two hits and continued his stellar defensive play to aid the cause. Callil addressed his approach, “Look fastball and adjust to the off-speed … being satisfied going the other way. I’m not going to be one of the guys driving in a lot of runs, so I just want to do my job and that might mean hitting one over the second baseman’s head or just putting the ball in play.”
South Carolina (17-10, 2-6 SEC) now has a chance to win its first conference series. Game 3 is Sunday at noon, featuring a matchup of South Carolina RHP TJ Shook and Auburn LHP Carson Skipper.
MARK KINGSTON:
