Before Wednesday, South Carolina had never trailed later than the seventh inning. But, in Charleston the Gamecocks found themselves down a run and needing some late-inning magic to keep their perfect season alive.
They got it in a big way in the eighth inning, exploding for six runs to take care of The Citadel, 11-7, on the road and continue their perfect start to the season.
No. 10/12 South Carolina is now 11-0 and takes that perfect record on the road for a three-game series at No. 19/20 Texas starting Friday.
“It’s a good team right now," Mark Kingston said. "We’re winning games but we still have things to improve and we will. Focusing on toady, this was a really good win for us.”
Trailing by a run entering the eighth inning the Gamecocks posted a six-run inning to retake the lead and give South Carolina a lead it wouldn't give up the rest of the game.
Brady Allen started the scoring with a game-tying RBI single to center before Braylen Wimmer delivered the go-ahead hit, a double down the left field line. It was Wimmer's only hit of the night after struggling early in the game, but he delivered when he needed to.
“Before he came up there I walked up to him and said, ‘Hey, it’s been a tough night for you but you can erase it all with a quality at-bat," Kingston said. "He had two big RBI for us.”
After Wes Clarke was intentionally walked, Josiah Sightler and Andrew Eyster had back-to-back two-run hits to push the lead to six runs.
In total, nine Gamecocks came to the plate in the inning with five hits with all six runs coming with two outs.
South Carolina is now outscoring opponents 20-2 in the eighth inning this season and is a perfect 5-0 this year when scoring at least 10 runs.
Andy Peters would close out the game, pitching 2.2 innings to pick up his second win of the year.
“He put us on his back there," Kingston said. "They did a nice job against most of our pitchers tonight and he really shut them down. We needed it.”
After an up-and-down pitching performance Peters settled things down, giving up one hit—a solo home run—in just under three innings while striking out five of the 11 batters he faced.
The Gamecocks as a staff, though, threw five pitchers outside of Peters and as a staff they surrendered a season high 13 hits, five of those coming from leadoff Jeffery Brown.
Sightler, who started the game, gave up two runs in the first inning on three straight hits and a run-scoring double play, but settled down and pitched a clean inning to end his outing.
He'd stay in the game, going 2-for-4 with four RBI and a double batting cleanup.
"Performance on the mound, they came out swinging on the first pitch. I just had to buckle down, hit my spots and let my defense work," Sightler said. "As far as seeing myself in the lineup it’s just taking advantage of the opportunities I’m given and help the team win.”
Along with Sightler, Joe Satterfield was the only other Gamecock with a multi-hit day, picking up two and scoring three of the Gamecocks' runs.
Allen and Andrew Eyster also had multi-RBI days, each driving in two runs, as Eyster reached base in his 11th-straight game while both Brennan Milone and Wimmer extended their hit streaks to six consecutive games.
The Gamecocks, though, cobbled together nine hits and struck out 11 times and didn't have much consistency before the ninth inning.
“They did a really nice job. (Blake Cooper) did a really nice job over there as their pitching coach matching guys up," Kingston said. "They used a bunch of guys. It was a challenge for us. We saw some of the same this weekend against mercer and it took us a while to adjust. Luckily we did it in time.”
South Carolina now takes a 16-game winning streak dating back to last season into this weekend against Texas. It's a quick turnaround with the Gamecocks leaving Thursday morning for the series starting Friday.
“It’s another win," Kingston said. "Now we have to focus on Texas. We get home and have to get up early to fly to Austin, Texas tomorrow and have to be ready.”
