#7 South Carolina vs. Winthrop Game Recap: Gamecocks Beat Eagles 8-6

South Carolina’s offense was asleep for most of the game against Winthrop, but the Gamecocks came alive for a late-inning rally and victory.

The Eagles took a 4-0 lead in the first inning as South Carolina starting pitcher Brandon Murray struggled. He didn’t make it out of the inning and was replaced by Colby Lee, who was making his first appearance.

The Gamecocks got on the board in the bottom of the inning, after LT Tolbert singled with one out and was brought home on a sac fly from Matt Williams.

Winthrop got that run back in the third inning, though, taking a 5-1 lead. South Carolina managed to cut into the lead again in the fourth inning. Jonah Bride led off with a base hit, then Chris Cullen blasted a homer to make it 5-3.

Unfortunately, the Eagles got one of the runs back again in the next inning. The 6-3 score held until the seventh inning, when Williams extended his hitting streak to 12 games by knocking an RBI single to get Tolbert home.

The Gamecocks finally turned the tide in the eighth inning. Alex Destino, who was having a pretty quiet night, started the inning off with a homer to bring South Carolina within one. Jonah Bride followed with a double, then Cullen got hit to put two on with no outs. Madison Stokes laid down what was intended to be a sac bunt, but a fielding error got him to first and brought in the tying run. Carlos Cortes pinch hit and contributed a sac fly to give the Gamecocks their first lead of the night, then another error allowed Stokes to make it home.

While Murray had a rough outing tonight, Lee did a solid job, as did Reed Scott, who took over in the fifth inning and pitched the rest of the game.

With the win, South Carolina improves to 9-5, while Winthrop falls to 5-7. The Gamecocks will be back in action on Friday night, when they open a series with Michigan State. First pitch is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Founders Park.