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After scoring an insane amount of runs against Rhode Island on Sunday afternoon, the Gamecocks came out and scored in the double digits again against UNC-Wilmington to force another game on Monday night.
The Seahawks were first on the board, scoring their only run of the game on a first inning homer by Brian Mims.
South Carolina ended the shutout quickly, though, scoring five runs in the second inning. LT Tolbert and Marcus Mooney walked with one out, then DC Arendas singled to load the bases. Gene Cone followed that with a bases-clearing double to make it 3-1, then with two outs, Dom Thompson-Williams came through with a two-run double to put the Gamecocks up 5-1.
Both teams were fairly quiet during the middle of the game, until South Carolina tacked on a few more runs in the sixth inning. Cone knocked a base hit with one out, TJ Hopkins walked, and with two outs, DTW walked too to load the bases again. Madison Stokes also walked, forcing in a run. Hunter Taylor followed that with a two-run single to put the Gamecocks up 8-1.
Another South Carolina run came in the next inning. Arendas doubled with one out, then with two outs, he came home on an RBI base hit by TJ Hopkins to make it 9-1. The Gamecocks' final run of the game came in the eighth inning. With one out, Stokes singled, Taylor did too, and Tolbert came through with an RBI groundout to put the team in double digits.
Starting pitcher Tyler Johnson was outstanding tonight. He pitched the entire game and allowed just five hits, one run, walking one batter, and striking out 11, which is a career high.
Johnson, Taylor, and Arendas have all come up really clutch in this Regional, and that's great to see. South Carolina’s going to need all hands on deck if they want to advance to the Super Regionals, so to get contributions from up and down the lineup and players who might be a little more unexpected is really encouraging.
The Gamecocks, who now have 45 wins, will play UNC-W again on Monday night, with firs pitch set for 6 p.m. ET at Founder's Park.