The Carolina baseball team was at home Wednesday night taking on the Furman Paladins.By Brian Walker
One night after getting soundly beaten by The Citadel on the road, the Gamecock's baseball team found comfort at home. USC pitchers combined for a six-hit shutout as the Gamecocks beat the Furman Paladins 10-0 Wednesday night.
Head coach Ray Tanner knew the importance of the victory, especially considering the way his team had played the night before.
"After last night not playing very well and losing at The Citadel it was great to come home and get the win," said Tanner.
Carolina got on the board early, taking a 1-0 lead they wouldn't relinquish in the second inning. But it was an offensive explosion in the eighth that put the game away for good. Carolina batted around the order en route to a six-run inning, thanks to RBI doubles from both Whit Merrifield and DeAngelo Mack.
The Gamecock's pitching has been a big question mark of late, with several starters being roughed up early in the past few outings. Starting pitcher Jay Brown saw none of that, however, throwing 6.2 scoreless innings in just his third start of the season. Relievers Adam Westmoreland and Michael Roth finished the game allowing just two hits between them.
"Jay Brown gave us a quality start," said Tanner. "We did a nice job and got the win."
With the victory Carolina improves to 19-8 on the year, while the loss drops Furman to 10-13. The Gamecocks return to SEC action at home this weekend with a three-game series against conference leader Arkansas.
