USC’s offense came alive late agains the other Carolina
No. 6 South Carolina took a while to get things going on Tuesday night, but they did enough in the late innings to come away with a 5-0 shutout of North Carolina in Charlotte.
Both teams were scoreless until the seventh inning, when the Gamecocks finally broke through. With two outs, Michael Braswell walked, Jonathan French doubled to bring him in and make it 1-0, and Evan Stone followed with a double of his own that got French home and put USC up 2-0.
The rest of USC’s runs came in the eighth. Gavin Casas started things off with a double, Ethan Petry singled, and Cole Messina came through with a base hit to get Casas in and make it a 3-0 game. After a wild pitch, Dylan Brewer walked to load the bases, then Talmadge LeCroy singled to bring Petry in and push the score to 4-0. The final run scored when Braswell hit into a double play.
Cocks starter Matthew Becker pitched three innings and allowed two hits and no runs. He also didn’t walk any batters and struck four out. Eli Jerzembeck, Nick Proctor, Eli Jones, and Cade Austin combined to go the rest of the way, and Proctor got the win, making him 2-0. Tar Heels starter Dalton Pence worked four innings and gave up two hits and no runs. He also issued two walks and struck out three batters. Reliever Matt Poston took the loss and is now 2-1.
Stone led Carolina at the plate with two hits, while he, French, Messina, and LeCroy each recorded an RBI. Six different UNC players had one hit apiece.
The Gamecocks are now 27-3 overall, while the Heels are 20-9. USC will be back in action on Thursday, when they open up a series against No. 1 LSU. First pitch is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Founders Park.