:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/49496525/4509813.0.0.jpg)
South Carolina racked up another midweek win on Wednesday night, beating the team from the Upstate - no, not THAT team from the Upstate - thanks to some late-game scoring.
The Gamecocks were on the board first, taking a 1-0 lead in the third inning. LT Tolbert and Marcus Mooney took back to back one-out walks, then Gene Cone reached base safely thanks to an error and Tolbert came home.
The Spartans tied things up in the next inning, though, courtesy of an RBI single from Daniel Fickas.
In the fifth inning, Cone, a noted Great Hitter, singled to extend his school-record hitting streak to 30 games. He becomes just the seventh player to have a streak that long, and his is the longest in Division I baseball this season. He is really good at hitting baseballs, y'all.
The game was tied until the seventh inning, when South Carolina claimed the lead. Chris Cullen walked to start things off, he advanced on a sac bunt by Tolbert, and then Marcus Mooney laid down a beauty of a bunt (words I rarely say/type...) to get Cullen home and make it 2-1.
The Gamecocks tacked on two more runs in the eighth inning. Dom Thompson-Williams and Alex Destino knocked back to back base hits to get things going, John Jones was walked on purpose with one out to load the bases, and Madison Stokes came through with a two-run single.
Brandon Murray started for the first time this season, and he did a nice job. He worked 3.1 innings and allowed just three hits, one run, didn't walk any batters, and struck out two. Taylor Widener pitched 3.2 innings of hitless, scoreless ball, and he issued only one walk while tallying four strikeouts. Reed Scott and Tyler Johnson also took the mound in the game.
With the win, South Carolina improves to 35-9, while USC Upstate drops to 18-24. The Gamecocks will be back in action on Friday, when they kick off a series against Kentucky in Lexington. First pitch in Friday's game is scheduled for 6:30 ET.