South Carolina Avenges Loss In Regional Opener, Knocks URI Baseball Out Of NCAA Tournament

June 5, 2016 10:02 pm

University of Rhode Island Press Release

Rhode Island Lineup
Hess (2B), Figueroa (3B), Powell (CF), Olmo (RF), McManus (1B), Moyers (DH), Livingston (C), Corin (LF), Hill (SS), Wessel (P)

South Carolina Lineup
Cone (RF), Hopkins (LF), Destino (DH), Thompson-Williams (CF), Bride (3B), Stokes (1B), Cullen (C), Tolbert (2B), Mooney (SS), Hill (P)

How it Happened
Rhode Island’s season ended with a 23-2 loss to South Carolina in the NCAA Regionals Sunday afternoon at Founders Park.

After knocking off the region’s top seed Friday night, the Rams (31-27) were unable to duplicate their success in the rematch. The Gamecocks (44-16) survived the elimination game to set up a game against UNCW later on Sunday.

South Carolina scored in each of the first seven innings, methodically building its lead early. The Gamecocks broke the game open with eight runs in the fifth inning, seven of which were scored with two outs. The inning included three walks, one hit batsman, four wild pitches and a balk before Alex Destino drilled a three-run home run that punctuated the outburst.

Tempers flared on the final out in the top of the first inning. Jonah Bride – who had a two-run single earlier in the frame – was on second with two outs when Madison Stokes hit a grounder up the middle that was knocked down by second baseman Chris Hess. Shortstop Laurence Hill picked the ball up and threw home to catcher Chase Livingston, who caught the ball when Bride was still several steps from the plate. Bride did not slide in and instead ran over Livingston, who held onto the ball and had heated words for Bride. Order was restored quickly and Bride was ejected.

Rhody got one run back in the bottom of the first. Chris Hess doubled down the right field line and moved to third on a Martin Figueroa flyout. Jordan Powell drove Hess in with a groundout to make it 2-1, but that was as close as the score would be the rest of the day.

Inside the Box Score

South Carolina had nine hits in its first 11 at bats with runners in scoring position.
The Gamecocks were 9-for-13 with two outs through the first five innings. Of their first 14 runs, 10 came after two outs had been recorded.
Redshirt sophomore Chris Hess doubled and scored once. The run was the 60th for Hess this season, making him just the second player in program history to score 60 in one season. Mike LeBel scored 65 times in 2010.
Senior Ryan Olmo hit his third home run of the season and second of the regional. He later added a single. He also had three putouts and finished his career with just one error in 194 chances. He played 98 consecutive games without committing an error.
Sophomore Jordan Powell had one RBI, giving him four in three games in Columbia.
Freshman Brett McManus walked twice. Redshirt junior Jesse Lee drew a walk in his first plate appearance of the regional.
Redshirt junior Blaise Whitman pitched a scoreless inning for the Rams, striking out two batters.
South Carolina freshman starter Adam Hill (7-0) pitched 7.0 innings, limiting the Rams to two runs on three hits and four walks. He also struck out six batters.
Paid attendance for the game was 5,157.
The game took three hours and 50 minutes to complete. All three of Rhode Island’s games at the NCAA Regional lasted at least three hours and 36 minutes.