South Carolina kept its league momentum humming right along Saturday.
The Gamecocks got yet another great start from freshman Will Sanders and an early offensive explosion to take the series over LSU, capped by a 9-0 win in game two of a doubleheader.
Saturday’s doubleheader sweep gives the Gamecocks four-straight series wins in the SEC and the Gamecocks (24-10, 10-5 SEC) are outscoring opponents 27-5 in their last three rubber matches.
“It’s an unbelievable effort by our guys. It looked very bleak in game one and they’re already on the verge of losing the series early into today, but we found a way. We had some big at-bats, got a big bunt down with tremendous pitching,” Mark Kingston said. “We found a way to squeeze that one out and really carried that into game two and played a tremendous ballgame.”
Sanders, making his fourth SEC start, spun yet another dominant outing on the road against the Tigers in what was a hostile environment.
Sanders (6-1, 2.11 ERA) stitched together six shutout innings with four strikeouts to just one walk.
He’d pitch out of trouble in the first, putting the first two hitters on with a single and a walk but got out of it unscathed and settled in nicely.
The lanky freshman allowed just four base runners the rest of his six-inning outing, all on singles.
Over the final six innings of the game, LSU got a base runner into scoring position just once, getting a man to second on a single and a wild pitch. LSU put a runner at third just once and that came in the first inning.
It’s the Gamecocks’ first SEC shutout of the year and the first time they’ve blanked a league team on the road since beating Auburn 7-0 in 2017.
“We have power pitching that can really do some great things when they’re throwing strikes and not helping the opponent,” Kingston said. “We did that today.”
Sanders pitched with a lead the entire game thanks to another really hot offensive start, putting up six runs on eight hits the first three innings.
The Gamecocks’ first four runs came off extra base hits as South Carolina put things away early in game two of Saturday’s doubleheader.
David Mendham started things with his fourth homer of the year, a two-run shot in the first inning with two outs and two strikes.
George Callil and Brennan Milone roped back-to-back RBI hits in the second, a triple and a double, as part of a three-run inning.
The hitting momentum continued from the final inning of game one as the Gamecocks chased LSU starter Blake Money in the second inning and put up six runs on eight hits in the first three innings and cruised to the series-clinching win.
The Gamecocks put a cherry on top in the sixth with a solo shot from Braylen Wimmer, his sixth of the season, and two-out RBI singles from Andrew Eyster and Colin Burgess.
“A lot of guys contributed and it’s a good win," Wimmer said.
South Carolina’s now won four straight SEC series and brings a 10-5 SEC record back home to face No. 1 Arkansas next on the docket for a three-game series starting Thursday at Founders Park.
“Series wins are good. You get 30 individual games so I look at it where we’re 10-5 right now," Kingston said. "I think the people who watch from the outside and media like to tabulate series wins and losses. This was a big weekend for us.”
