Cougar senior left-hander Josh Renfro threw a complete game and set a career high with 11 strikeouts as College of Charleston defeated Wofford, 5-1, at Patriots Point.
Renfro (3-1) pitched a complete nine innings for the second time in his career as he picked up his third win of the season. He is the first CofC pitcher to throw a complete game this season. Renfro allowed just four hits and one run and did not walk a batter as he struck out a career-best 11 batters.
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With the win, College of Charleston (13-5, 5-2) snapped a two-game losing streak and won their fourth straight conference game. Wofford moved 8-10 on the season and 0-1 in the SoCon. Wofford’s Brandon Yarusi (2-1) picked up his first loss of the season after pitching 7.2 innings and striking out eight, while allowing all five runs.
The Terriers jumped on Renfro early, tallying a run just three pitches into the game after a leadoff double by James Foster and a single from Josh Hyman. The Cougars got out of the inning with a double play as Hyman was called for interference for his slide at second base. Renfro only allowed two base runners for the rest of the game.
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“I was really proud of how Josh (Renfro) responded after Wofford got that run so quickly,” head coach Monte Lee said. “He pitched very well for the rest of the game and our defense did a great job behind him with no errors. Our offense was clutch tonight with some big hits in two-out situations. It was a very good conference victory.”
The Cougar offense was powered by two-out RBIs from Rob Harding and Cody Martin in the first and eighth innings. Both players are now tied for the team lead with 18 RBIs.
Senior Marty Gantt went 2-of-4 with two runs to extend his reached base streak to 15 games. Bradley Goodson and Dre Watts also tallied runs as Goodson finished 2-of-4 with an RBI.
After Wofford took its 1-0 lead in the top of the first, the Cougars’ shortstop Goodson led off the bottom of the inning with a double to left and scored on a double from Gantt to center field. Harding singled in Gantt with two out to give the Cougars a 2-1 advantage.
College of Charleston built a 3-1 lead in the second inning when Watts doubled down the right field line in the first pitch of the frame, advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt from Ryan Welke and scored on a two-out single from Goodson.
CofC added insurance in the eighth inning on a single from Martin to right field to score Gantt and Daniel Aldrich.
The College of Charleston will continue the conference set with Wofford on Saturday at 3 p.m. The Cougars announced a late switch on Friday, moving right-hander Christian Powell to a Sunday start and giving Matt Pegler the start on Saturday.