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Well, this was not the most enjoyable baseball game I've ever watched.
CSU took an early lead, going up 1-0 in the first thanks to an RBI sac fly from Alex Tomasovich. They added some insurance in the third inning, courtesy of RBI singles from Tomasovich and Zack Hagaman, which bumped their lead up to 3-0.
A fourth Buccaneers run came in the fifth inning, when Chase Shelton contributed an RBI base hit. The good news was that they didn't score again after that. The bad news was that USC barely did.
The Gamecocks had trouble even getting runners on base, and they didn't get their first hit until the bottom of the fifth inning, when Tanner English singled. To make matters worse, they couldn't do much of anything good on the rare occasions that guys were on base. Prior to the ninth inning, South Carolina's best chance to score came in the sixth, when they got back-to-back singles from Elliott Caldwell and Kyle Martin with no outs. Unfortunately, the Gamecocks came away empty-handed.
They finally did score with two outs in the ninth, when Jordan Gore came through with an RBI single to end the shutout, but one run was all they could muster.
Not that it's an excuse, but USC was without a number of regular starters tonight, as Max Schrock, Connor Bright, Marcus Mooney, and Joey Pankake were all out. Most of them will hopefully be back for this weekend's series against Auburn.
Starter Evan Beal didn't seem to have his stuff tonight. He was lifted after 2.1 innings and gave up five hits, three runs, didn't walk anyone, and got one strikeout. He took the loss and drops to 0-1. Reed Scott and Josh Reagan also pitched for the Gamecocks tonight.
CSU starter Joe Pistacchio worked two innings and allowed no hits or runs, issued two walks, and tallied one K. Denis Buckley got the win and is now 2-0; Austin Weekley earned the save, his seventh.
Caldwell had two hits to lead the home team and Bobby Ison had three to pace the visitors.
South Carolina is now 28-8, while Charleston Southern improves to 19-20. The Gamecocks will be back in action Wednesday night, when they travel to Charleston for a rescheduled game against The Citadel. First pitch is set for 7 p.m..