South Carolina vs. Duke, Game Recap: Gamecocks Beat Blue Devils 4-2, Stay Alive in Regional

This was not a particularly good or interesting baseball game, but South Carolina did enough to come away with a win and live to play another Regional game this weekend.

The Gamecocks got on the board first, taking a 1-0 lead in the first inning. Gene Cone led off the game with a single, advanced to second on a sac bunt by TJ Hopkins, and came home thanks to a one-out RBI single from Jonah Bride.

South Carolina's second run of the day came in the next inning, when Hunter Taylor walked with one out and Marcus Mooney brought him in with an RBI single.

Duke cut the lead in half in the bottom of the third inning, though, thanks to an RBI sac fly by Jimmy Herron. That came after a throwing error by Braden Webb allowed Max Miller to advance from first to third.

The Blue Devils tied the game in the sixth inning on a Justin Bellinger homer.

Both teams had a few chances to break the tie, but no one capitalized until the ninth, when the Gamecocks pulled off a rally. Dom Thompson-Williams started things with a single, then came home on a one-out RBI base hit by Taylor to give the Gamecocks a 3-2 lead. Taylor was replaced on the basepaths by Clark Scolamiero, who was waved home by Sammy Esposito in an unfortunate display that ended with Scolamiero being out at the plate. LT Tolbert got hit by a pitch to keep the inning alive, though, and he later came home on a wild pitch for the final run of the game.

Webb did not have a great outing, and he didn't make it out of the fourth inning. He was replaced by Josh Reagan, who did a great job and worked into the eighth inning. Tyler Johnson went the rest of the way on the mound.

South Carolina will now play in another elimination game on Sunday at noon, this time against the loser of Saturday night's matchup between Rhode Island and UNC-Wilmington.