Sometimes it takes an ace to step up.

Eli Jones took the mound for South Carolina baseball at Florida coming off his worst start of the season, trying to snap a streak of three straight winless Fridays for the Gamecocks and start a road series on the right foot.

He delivered six innings of one-run baseball with six strikeouts, departed with a 5-1 lead and South Carolina and pulled away late for a 10-3 win to capture game one of the series.

Jones earned some immediate support when second baseman Parker Noland snuck a solo home run over the wall in right field off Florida (17-16, 6-7 SEC) starter Brandon Neely to put the visitors on top. That one run held up until Michael Robertson tied the game in the third with an RBI double, the lone scoring blemish against Jones.

He ended the frame retiring Florida slugger Jac Caglianone on a grounder to first base with two runners on base, and cruised from there with his usual recipe of sharp sliders, effective fastballs and efficient control. He only needed 76 pitches to get through his six innings, turning in a clutch start to set the bullpen up well for the remainder of the series.

Neely matched him pitch for pitch through four innings, but ran into his trouble against the bottom of the Gamecock lineup in the fifth. Talmadge LeCroy and Will Tippett both hit solo home runs in the frame to create a two-run advantage, just their third and second shots of the season respectively.

But neither was more surprising than what Gavin Casas did in the seventh inning. Not only did he accomplish a feat for the first time this season, it was the first time in his collegiate career.

The first baseman roped a triple into right-center field, his first three-bagger after Robertson came up empty on his diving attempt. Cole Messina singled him home moments later, Dylan Brewer tacked on a bases loaded walk and South Carolina (24-10, 7-6 SEC) took a 5-1 lead to the stretch.

Even after Caglianone cut the lead in half with a two-run blast off Garrett Gainey, Chris Veach slammed the door in the eighth inning and RBI hits courtesy of Ethan Petry, Kennedy Jones, LeCroy after Tippett in the ninth inning extended the advantage and put the Gators away.

It was four hits with runners in scoring position in one inning after just seven in five games to start April, and more than enough to wrap up a Friday win.

The Gamecocks will try to claim the series at 4 p.m. ET Saturday with Ty Good on the mound scheduled to make his first SEC start.

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