COLUMBIA, S.C. – Despite an impressive debut from freshman southpaw Brian Kehner (Flowery Branch, Ga.) and a seven-to-six hit advantage, the Presbyterian College baseball team dropped a non-conference road game to No. 5 South Carolina on Tuesday, 4-0.
PC moves to 2-1 and returns home to host NC Central on Wednesday at 2 p.m. South Carolina improves to 4-0.
South Carolina scored one run in the sixth and three in the seventh for the win.
Kehner tossed a brilliant 5.2 innings in his collegiate debut. The rookie allowed four hits—only one in the first four innings—and one run while striking out six and walking three. The lefthander's delivery and sweeping curveball frustrated the Gamecocks all afternoon and kept PC tied with South Carolina.
Jacob Midkiff (Rock Hill, S.C.) went 2-for-2 on the day to lead PC and neither team committed an error.
The second inning saw a solid scoring chance from the Blue Hose. Brad Zebedis (Rock Hill, S.C.) drew a leadoff walk and took second on a wild pitch, followed by four straight balls to Jacob Midkiff to put two on with nobody out. Brandon Martin (Gray Court, S.C.) sacrifice bunted the pair over but two straight outs ended half-inning with no score.
South Carolina put two one in the bottom of the second around two Kehner strikeouts, the freshman's first of his career.
The Blue Hose got off to a quick start in the fourth inning, picking up two hits from leadoff man Brandon Paul (Augusta, Ga.) and Brad Zebedis. PC used a two-strike sacrifice bunt from Midkiff to move the runners to second and third, but could not convert again as the Gamecocks got out of the jam via a force at third and popout.
Kehner continued to cruise. The freshman allowed only one hit through four innings and ended the fourth with a brilliant curveball that fell off the table to end the inning.
PC put another runner 90 feet away from paydirt in the fifth when Jay Lizanich (Greer, S.C.) went inside-out on a pitch to send Derek Long (Alpharetta, Ga.) from first to third with two outs. The Gamecocks managed to escape again, however, sending the game into the bottom of the fifth with no score.
Kehner ran into some trouble in the bottom of the fifth left unscathed. With runners on second and third and two outs, Gamecock third baseman Joey Pankake ran the count to full. Kehner delivered another perfect curveball to get the infielder swinging and keep the game scoreless.
The Blue Hose put another two on with two outs thanks to singles from Midkiff and Brandon Martin (Gray Court, S.C.), but new pitcher Josh Reagan forced a 3-1 pop fly to get out of the jam.
A great defensive play negated a Gamecock leadoff single to start the seventh. First baseman Kyle Martintried to stretch a left-field single into a double, but Martin gunned him down as Billy Motroni (Goose Creek, S.C.) made the tag.
South Carolina broke through two batters later after a walk sent a Grayson Greiner to first. Rightfielder Connor Bright lifted a pitch to the left field corner that scored one and put the Gamecocks ahead, 1-0.
Paul Sanders (St. Simons Island, Ga.) came in—after a loud ovation for Kehner—and forced a pop fly to end the sixth. Paul made a sliding catch in foul territory to back up the senior lefthander.
The Gamecocks then scored three runs on a Kyle Martin home run in the seventh off of reliever Trey Hayes (Belton, S.C.) and the runs proved enough for the win. Aaron Lesiak (Greenville, S.C.) entered to pitch 1.1 innings of one-hit, scoreless relief.
South Carolina 4, Presbyterian College 0 (Feb 18, 2014 at Columbia, S.C.)
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Presbyterian College 000 000 000 - 0 7 0 (2-1)
South Carolina...... 000 001 30X - 4 6 0 (4-0)
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Pitchers: Presbyterian College - KEHNER, Brian; SANDERS, Paul(6); HAYES, Trey(7);
LESIAK, Aaron(7) and LONG, Derek. South Carolina - Curt Britt; Josh Reagan(6); Cody Mincey(8)
and Grayson Greiner.
Win-Josh Reagan(1-0) Loss-KEHNER, Brian(0-1) T-2:21 A-6642
HR SC - Kyle Martin (1).
Weather: High 60s, no clouds, beautiful
HAYES, T. faced 3 batters in the 7th.
