Baseball Continues Road Stretch with a Pair of Midweek Matchups

CLINTON, S.C. – The Presbyterian College baseball team continues a busy stretch of action on Tuesday with a 4 p.m. first pitch against #14 South Carolina on SECN Plus. The Blue Hose continue on Wednesday with a 6:30 p.m. start at Fluor Field against Duke on ESPN+.

GAMEDAY CENTRAL
WHAT: Presbyterian (7-9) at #14 South Carolina (16-1)
WHERE: Founders Park (Columbia, S.C.)
WHEN: Tuesday, March 14th at 4 p.m.
THE SERIES (Since 2008): South Carolina Leads 10-3

WHAT: Duke (10-6) vs Presbyterian
WHERE: Fluor Field (Greenville, S.C.)
WHEN: Wednesday, March 15th at 6:30 p.m.
THE SERIES (Since 2008): Duke Leads 6-1

FOLLOW THE ACTION
LIVE STATS: Stat Broadcast (Tues.) | Stat Broadcast (Wed.)
VIDEO: SECN + (Tues.) | ESPN+ (Wed.)
LIVE AUDIO: Fox Sports Spartanburg (98.3 FM, 1400 AM) (Tues. Only)
TWITTER: @PresbyterianBSB
GAME NOTES: Presbyterian Notes

About the Blue Hose
• The Blue Hose begin their second straight five-game week on Tuesday with a road game at South Carolina before battling Duke on Wednesday at Fluor Field in Greenville. The Gamecocks enter on a seven-game win streak following a sweep of Bethune-Cookman over the weekend while the Blue Devils come off of a series that saw them lose two-of-three to Wake Forest.

Scouting the Gamecocks
• South Carolina comes into Tuesday's tilt with a 16-1 record winning each of its last seven contests. The Gamecocks are also a perfect 14-0 on their home field this season.
• Ethan Petry leads the Gamecocks offense with a .429 average including six homers and 24 RBIs. Braylen Wimmer sits at .410 with six homer, 17 runs knocked in and a team-high 12 steals.
• As a team, South Carolina has connected on 45 homers which is tied for the lead in the NCAA as 11 Gamecocks have connected on long balls led by Gavin Casas with nine homers.
• South Carolina also ranks second in the nation in runs scored with 190, fourth in scoring averaging 11.2 runs per game.
• On the mound, the Gamecocks are led by James Hicks who's 3-0 with a 1.00 ERA as Hicks has allowed two earned runs in 18 innings with 14 strikeouts. South Carolina has five arms who have pitched five innings or less without allowing an earned run.
• The Gamecocks are seventh in the NCAA in WHIP (1.05), eighth in walks allowed per nine innings (2.7) and eighth in ERA (2.70).

Head to Head vs South Carolina
• South Carolina holds a 10-3 edge in the all-time series dating back to 2008 over PC with the Blue Hose winning the last head-to-head meeting by the score of 9-6 in Columbia last season.

Scouting the Blue Devils
• Duke enters Wednesday's tilt with a 10-6 mark after dropping two-of-three at the hands of Wake Forest in Durham. The Blue Devils do have a 9-0 win over ECU who was ranked in the top 10 at the time of the victory.
• Duke's offense is led by Alex Mooney who's hitting at a .358 clip with six doubles and a triple to go along with a team-high seven stolen bases. Andrew Fischer sits at .333 with five doubles and two homers.
• On the mound, Duke is led by Jason White who's not allowed an earned run in 12.2 innings of work over six outings. Fran Oschell III has pitched 10.1 innings of scoreless work with 17 strikeouts.

Head to Head vs Duke
• PC & Duke meet on Wednesday for the eighth time in the Blue Hose DI era with the Blue Devils holding a 6-1 edge. Wednesday marks the first time the two teams have met since 2018 when Duke earned an 8-0 win in Durham.

Blue Hose in the Ranks
• Jack Gorman and Brody Fahr begin the weekend tied for seventh in the league with 19 hits apiece.
• Gorman is also tied for fourth doubles with six on the season.
• Trey Fenderson is second in the league with his two sacrifice flies.
• Gibson and Tanner Smith are tied for the top spot in the league with a pair of saves.

Last Five Games
• Gorman leads the way for PC in the last five games with a .444 average tallying three doubles in that stretch. Gorman has also tallied a team-high four steals.
• Fenderson sits in second in the stretch with a .429 average finishing with four RBIs in the stretch.
• Fenix DiGiacomo has allowed one earned run over his last six innings of work while Charlie McDaniel recorded a team-high eight strikeouts.

Blue Hose Offense Pushes Past Broncos
• Behind a career-high five hits from junior Jack Gorman, the Presbyterian College baseball team earned a 17-11 midweek win on Tuesday night over Western Michigan at the PC Baseball Complex. Gorman finished with five hits, including a pair of doubles to pace the offense to the midweek victory.
• Dragoo tied for the program's DI record for walks as he drew four free passes in the contest.
• The 17 runs the Blue Hose scored on Tuesday marks the most scored by a PC team since last May when Presbyterian tallied 22 runs against CSU.
• The Blue Hose improved to 5-1 on the season, totaling 10+ hits following the 13 hits recorded in Tuesday's action.
• As a team, PC drew 14 walks in the victory marking the program's DI single-game record for walks drawn in a game.

McDaniel Earns Big South Co-Freshman of the Week Honors
• Following six shutout innings in his first college start on Wednesday, Presbyterian College baseball freshman Mason McDaniel (Sanford, Fla.) has been named the Big South Co-Freshman of the Week for games played Feb. 20-26, as announced by the conference office on Monday.
• McDaniel dazzled in his first college start against Western Carolina on Wednesday as the Blue Hose left-hander tossed six scoreless innings with eight strikeouts in the victory over the Catamounts. He scattered just two hits and two walks throughout his outing to get the win. In the start Wednesday, he tallied six strikeouts in the first four innings while only allowing one hit and totaling three innings of three up and three down. McDaniel worked around a pair of baserunners in the fifth without harm before getting his final strikeout in the sixth to earn his first collegiate win.

Newcomers Getting PC Early Victories
• On Saturday, Blue Hose pitchers Fenix DiGiacomo and Luke Gibson started their Blue Hose careers strong as PC downed the Hoyas 5-2 in the middle game of the three-game weekend series. DiGiacomo got the ball rolling on Saturday with a start spanning 5.2 innings allowing four hits and one run en route to a victory in his PC debut. Gibson finished it off for the Blue Hose recording the final 10 outs allowing one solo home run and striking out four to earn the save. Gibson and DiGiacomo were teammates at Patrick Henry CC before coming to Clinton for the 2023 season. DiGiacomo added his second win of the season against Northwestern tossing six inning with two earned runs and seven strikeouts.
• In his first college start on Wednesday, PC was led by freshman Mason McDaniel tossing six scoreless innings to lead Presbyterian to a 3-0 win over Western Carolina. McDaniel struck out eight Catamounts en route to his first college win on Wednesday afternoon. In relief work on Saturday vs Georgia State, McDaniel pitched the ninth inning before PC rallied to get the win leading to his second win of the season.
• Kyle Mueller earned his first college win on Tuesday against Western Michigan as the freshman pitched three innings of relief as a part of the Blue Hose 17-11 win over the Broncos.

2023 Preseason Honors
• Catcher Dalton Reeves was named to the league's all-conference team as selected by Perfect Game.
• DI Baseball has tabbed a host of Blue Hose on the conference's top prospects in the next few drafts. RHP Duncan Howard, RHP Fenix DiGiacomo, Catcher Dalton Reeves, RHP Colbey Klepper, RHP Tanner Smith and OF Jay Wetherington were apart of the 2023 Draft Rankings.
• Joel Dragoo was tabbed by the publication in the 2024 Big South Prospect Rankings.
• Jake Randolph, Trey Fenderson and Amman Dewberry were selected to the Impact Freshman in the league on the list by DI Baseball.

Newcomers Join the Blue Hose Family
• Head Coach Elton Pollock was busy in the offsesaon with the addition of 16 new faces to the Blue Hose family.
• The incoming class includes Evan Cuervo, Jay Allred, Jake Randolph, Trey Fenderson, Travis Camp, William Nobles, Ryan Becker, Lorenzo Rios, Kyle Mueller, Luke Gibson, Tyler Mecchella, Fenix DiGiacomo, Mason McDaniel, Eli Bowery, Jeremiah Hampton, Amman Dewberry.

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Players Mentioned

#5 Joel Dragoo: INF; 6' 2"; Sophomore; R/R

#2 Brody Fahr: INF; 5' 11"; Junior; L/R

#1 Jack Gorman: INF; 5' 10"; Junior; R/R

#25 Duncan Howard: RHP; 6' 3"; Junior; R/R

#34 Colbey Klepper: RHP; 6' 4"; Senior; R/R

#31 Charlie McDaniel: LHP; 6' 3"; Junior; L/L

#32 Dalton Reeves: C; 6' 5"; Junior; L/R

#16 Tanner Smith: RHP; 6' 2"; Senior; R/R

#21 Jay Wetherington: OF; 5' 9"; Junior; L/L

#7 Evan Cuervo: OF; 6' 4"; Freshman; L/R

Players Mentioned

#5 Joel Dragoo
: 6' 2"; Sophomore; R/R
: INF

#2 Brody Fahr
: 5' 11"; Junior; L/R
: INF

#1 Jack Gorman
: 5' 10"; Junior; R/R
: INF

#25 Duncan Howard
: 6' 3"; Junior; R/R
: RHP

#34 Colbey Klepper
: 6' 4"; Senior; R/R
: RHP

#31 Charlie McDaniel
: 6' 3"; Junior; L/L
: LHP

#32 Dalton Reeves
: 6' 5"; Junior; L/R
: C

#16 Tanner Smith
: 6' 2"; Senior; R/R
: RHP

#21 Jay Wetherington
: 5' 9"; Junior; L/L
: OF

#7 Evan Cuervo
: 6' 4"; Freshman; L/R
: OF