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South Carolina staved off an SEC series sweep again, beating Mississippi State thanks to a late-game surge of offense.
The game was scoreless until the top of the sixth inning, when the Bulldogs got on the board with an RBI single by Ryan Gridley that made it 1-0. The Gamecocks answered in the bottom of the inning, though, when Carlos Cortes homered for the third time in this series, tying the game.
The rest of South Carolina’s runs came in the eighth inning. Jacob Olson started things off with a single, Cortes walked, and with one out, Alex Destino walked as well to load the bases. Jonah Bride flew out but it brought Olson home, then LT Tolbert brought two more runs in to make it 4-1. Matt Williams and Madison Stokes brought in the Gamecocks’ final two runs of the game, and that was that.
Starter Adam Hill pitched six innings before being replaced by Josh Reagan, who pitched until Tyler Johnson took over in the ninth. Reagan got the win and is now 4-1 this season.
With the win, South Carolina improves to 22-13 overall and 8-7 in the SEC, while Mississippi State is now 25-13 overall and 10-5 in conference play. The Gamecocks will be back in action on Tuesday when they host Davidson. First pitch is set for 7 p.m. at Founders Park.