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This is not a drill: South Carolina just swept a ranked SEC opponent and in the three game series, the Gamecocks scored a total of 30 runs.
Things didn’t get off to as positive a start in Sunday’s game as they did in the previous two, as No. 19 LSU took a 3-0 lead in the third inning thanks to a home run. The Tigers doubled their run total in the fifth inning, going up 6-0 on a pair of RBI singles and a wild pitch.
USC ended the shutout in the sixth inning. LT Tolbert and Jonah Bride singled and Justin Row walked to load the bases with one out, and a two-out walk to Matt Williams forced in a run, making it 6-1. Noah Campbell followed with two-run single, and TJ Hopkins tallied an RBI base hit as well to make the score 6-4 LSU.
The Gamecocks tied things up in the next inning, when Bride walked with one out and Row went yard to make it 6-6. The final two runs of the game came in the eighth inning. Hopkins started things off with a base hit, Cortes walked, and Stokes was safe thanks to an error, loading the bases again, then Tolbert came through with a two-run single.
Starter Cody Morris worked 4.1 innings and gave up six hits and six runs. He walked one batter and struck out four. Eddy Demurias pitched 4 innings and earned the win, making him 4-0 on the season. Sawyer Bridges also pitched in this game, coming in to get the final two outs.
This sweep hardly means USC baseball is back to where we’d all like it to be, but it is a major step in the right direction for a team that’s struggled against small midweek opponents and looked lost in more than one conference game. With the win, South Carolina improves to 23-17 overall and 9-9 in the SEC, while LSU is now 24-17 overall and 9-9 in conference play. The Gamecocks will be back in action on Tuesday, when they travel to take on Furman. First pitch is scheduled for 7 p.m. in Greenville.