COLUMBIA, S.C. — Before Thursday night’s game even began, South Carolina had already done the most important work. The question was not whether Ruger Riojas was good — everyone in the SEC knows he is. The question was how to make him beatable.
The answer, assembled by interim head coach Monte Lee alongside assistant John Hendry and director of hitting analytics William Mann, was disarmingly straightforward: stop trying to hit everything, and turn a five-pitch pitcher into a two-pitch pitcher.
It worked immediately, completely, and decisively. South Carolina beat Texas 9-1 at Founders Park, chasing the Longhorns’ ace after just three innings in a performance that was as much about preparation as execution.
The Plan That Changed Everything
Riojas entered Thursday with the SEC’s fourth-best ERA among starters, 64 strikeouts, and just seven walks across his first seven outings. He had allowed only seven runs over 39.2 innings. He was, by any honest measure, nearly unhittable.
Lee’s staff did not pretend otherwise. Instead, they built a game plan around discipline rather than aggression — hunt the fastball, recognize the cutter, and let everything else go.
“John said, ‘Hey, look, we’ve got to make him a two-pitch guy. You’ve just got to hunt the fastball and see the cutter and really do a good job of attacking those two pitches,” Lee said. “If you see something soft, like the curveball or changeup, just let it go. But we’ve got to hunt the fastball and basically make him a two-pitch guy.”
The Gamecocks executed the approach with a conviction that was evident from the first inning. By the second, it had already become a rout.
How the Offense Delivered
Talmadge LeCroy led off the second inning with a walk, and from there the frame cascaded in exactly the way Riojas’s line this season suggested was impossible. Beau Hollins drove in the first run with a groundout. Will Craddock reached on an infield single for another. After Erik Parker’s two-out double, Patrick Evans drove home two more with a triple down the left-field line. Tyler Bak capped the inning with an RBI double. Five runs. One inning. Against a pitcher who had allowed seven runs all season.
South Carolina added another in the third on a Craddock two-out single, and Riojas was done — pulled after three innings on 58 pitches, his shortest outing of the year.
Evans, who finished 3-for-4 with four RBI, articulated the mindset that made the approach work.
“To be honest, we knew that guy was good. You just can’t be afraid,” Evans said. “You’ve got to have all the confidence in the world against a guy like that, especially against a team like that. It’s a great team. But we just stuck to our approach. We knew he was gonna throw a lot of strikes and hunted fastballs early. We knew he had good offspeed. So I thought we handled him pretty well.”
The offense has now scored 27 runs over its last three games — a stretch that suggests something real is shifting in how this lineup is approaching at-bats. Evans identified the core of it simply.
“Confidence, man,” he said. “Stick to your approach, hit balls in your zone, look for your pitch and just be confident. You’re gonna smack something. So that’s really all it is. That’s all I’m doing, at least. And I know some other guys are too. So the last couple of games have been working, so we’ve got to stick with it.”
Valentin Steps Up Again
The early run support transformed the pitching dynamic entirely. Alex Valentin, making his third appearance in five days and his second start of the week, took the mound with a cushion and used it effectively. He pitched 3.2 innings of one-run ball, striking out five and walking one across 84 pitches — a more than respectable line under any circumstances, remarkable given the workload he has carried recently.
Valentin had approached Lee earlier in the week and asked for a bigger role. Lee responded by giving him the ball with two days’ rest. The trust was mutual and visible.
“A lot of credit to the coaching staff for trusting me, and a lot of credit to my teammates,” Valentin said. “I walked into the building today, and they gave me every vote of confidence that I needed. There was no doubt in their minds that I was going to go up there and do the best I could. That’s always reassuring.”
Lee’s response was unambiguous.
“I absolutely love him. What a warrior, right?” Lee said. “It’s the third time he’s thrown this week, just to go out there and compete like he does. He wanted the ball; he wanted to help his team win.”
The Bullpen Closed the Door
After Valentin exited in the fourth, the South Carolina bullpen made the final outcome academic. Zach Russell came on with two outs in the fourth and delivered 2.1 innings of one-hit ball, striking out four. Then Alex Philpott closed out the final three innings with a perfect performance — no hits, no walks, three strikeouts — to complete a dominant team pitching effort.
Lee was particularly pleased with how the back end of the bullpen executed.
“Russell has just really started to gain his command. I thought he threw the ball super well, and then we turned the ball over to Philly,” Lee said. “We got Philly hot for the last nine outs, and just brought him into the game and just let him finish the ballgame.”
What Comes Next
South Carolina enters Friday at 15-16 overall and 2-8 in SEC play — a record that reflects a difficult stretch, but one that the last three games suggest may be turning. A series win over Texas would carry genuine significance for a program trying to rebuild momentum in the back half of the conference schedule.
Josh Gunther (2-2, 6.97 ERA) gets the ball Friday night at 7 p.m. on SEC Network+. The approach that worked Thursday does not disappear overnight — and neither does the confidence Evans described as the difference-maker.
The Gamecocks solved one of the SEC’s best pitchers by deciding, collectively, to stop being afraid of him. That is a lesson that tends to carry forward.
