The University of South Carolina baseball team completed a 1-3 week, highlighted by a 7-0 victory over No. 15 Clemson on Friday night in Columbia. The Gamecocks’ overall record now stands at 7-5, with no Southeastern Conference games played yet.
During the week, South Carolina lost to Queens (8-9) on February 25, secured a win against Clemson (7-0) on February 27, and then dropped two consecutive games to Clemson (1-4 and 2-7).
Josh Gunther made his first career start as pitcher in the Friday game against Clemson. He pitched seven innings, allowing only three hits and no runs while recording one walk and achieving a personal best of ten strikeouts. Gunther threw 90 pitches during the outing, ending five of his seven innings with a strikeout and retiring the last six batters he faced. At that time, Clemson had been batting .332 as a team. This performance marked South Carolina’s second shutout of the season and their second in four games. Gunther remains undefeated this year with a 2-0 record and an earned run average of 4.20.
Ethan Lizama contributed significantly in Friday’s win with an RBI single. Over the series against Clemson, Lizama collected three hits—two coming on Saturday—and has accumulated three extra-base hits and three RBIs for the season.
Alex Valentin closed out Friday’s shutout by pitching the final two innings without allowing any hits and striking out five batters. So far this season, Valentin has struck out fourteen batters while walking only three across nine-and-a-third scoreless innings.
Looking ahead, South Carolina will play its next five games at Founders Park. The schedule includes midweek matchups against USC Upstate and Charleston Southern before beginning a three-game series versus Princeton starting March 7.
