COLUMBIA — Chad Holbrook asked for a hero. Jack Wynkoop gave him one.
South Carolina’s junior lefthander pitched his best game of the season when his team needed it most, striking out a career-high 12 in a complete-game effort to help the Gamecocks defeat No. 5 Vanderbilt 5-2 Friday night at Carolina Stadium. Wynkoop’s clutch outing ended a five-game USC losing streak, and prevented the Gamecocks’ first six-game skid since the final days of the June Raines era in 1996.
Just as important, it provided a needed morale boost for a USC team which had been outscored 50-10 in its last four SEC games, including 12-0 by Vanderbilt in the series opener Thursday.