GamecockScoop – South Carolina torches CCSU 19-1 in NCAA Tournament opener

One down, and one down in as dominant a fashion as possible.

Not only did South Carolina baseball take care of business against No. 4 seed Central Connecticut State in its opening game of the Columbia regional, it set records. It put the game out of reach before the third inning was over. It blasted out 19 runs on 16 hits, and it moved into the winner’s bracket of the regional with a resounding 19-1 win over the Blue Devils.

Those 19 runs nearly set the program’s record for scoring in an NCAA Tournament game, set in a 23-2 win over Rhode Island in 2016. The major damage came in the fourth inning when the Gamecocks unloaded for 11 runs on six hits in a seemingly eternal frame that took 46 minutes and required 77 pitches.

Long before the middle inning onslaught though came some early fireworks from the new look offense. The lineup featured lead-off hitter Will McGillis as the designated hitter, playing in just his second game since his Mar. 24th injury. Braylen Wimmer also re-claimed his role at shortstop, sliding Michael Braswell over to second base and pushing Wil Tippett into center field to take Evan Stone’s spot in the lineup.

“I did a lot of research on our best games this year,” Mark Kingston said. “I looked back at what was our lineup, what was our batting order when we were really at our best. Knowing that we would have our full compliment of players, I tried to find what was the best combination of when we played our best against Florida and Vanderbilt and Georgia.”

The Gamecocks had their full compliment, and turned in a performance reminiscent of those early season high points.

South Carolina (40-19) left the bases loaded in the first inning against Central Connecticut State (36-13) starter Jake Neuman and failed to capitalize, but it had another opportunity with the bags full just an inning later. With two outs, Ethan Petry took four straight balls well outside the strike zone to earn his first career NCAA Tournament RBI and the first one of the night for the home team in front of a juiced up Founders Park.

One inning later the hit parade really took shape first when Gavin Casas picked up the second of his three hits in as many at-bats — snapping a previous 0-for-14 slump — with an RBI double off the wall in left. Later in the inning McGillis played pepper with the wall again slamming one off the top of it for what looked like a two-run double. But after a lengthy review the umpires determined that the ball just barely cleared the wall for a three-run home run, the first for McGillis since the at-bat prior to his injury and his 11th of the season.

“Off the bat I didn’t think it was getting out,” McGillis said. “And I didn’t realize it was that close until I saw the replay. It was really cool running home from third and seeing all my teammates there squirting water in my face. It was really fun.”

After another 1-2-3 inning from James Hicks, the offense went back to work with a 5-0 lead in tow.

One wipeout half inning later, Kingston was able to empty his bench and rest up for the weekend.

It started with an error on a ball Petry rolled to short. A walk and a single loaded the bases for Casas and forced the Blue Devils to their bullpen, and Casas duly greeted Tim Buchek with a two-run single into center. Dylan Brewer picked up his own two-run knock, Braylen Wimmer became the ninth Gamecock to reach base with a bases loaded walk and both Braswell and Cole Messina had multi-RBI doubles. Will Tippett added the final blow of the inning with an RBI single.

It was 16-0 after four, a bewildering score which surely sent a few ripples around the college baseball landscape on regional Friday.

The pitching staff had all the run support it could ever ask for early, but it also set things up well for the rest of the weekend. The fourth inning outburst allowed Hicks to exit the game after just 57 pitches of one-hit baseball, potentially setting himself up for another appearance down the line.

“It was unbelievable,” Hicks said. “It was something I’ve wanted for a really long time, and something I’ve worked for my whole life, really. Once I got out there the adrenaline and the nerves were going, so Cole had to run out and help me calm down. I probably made the coaches a little nervous at that point, but I figured it out.”

Will Sanders trotted to the mound from the bullpen for the first time this season, and his first time on the mound since May 5th at Kentucky. He picked up two strikeouts in a shutout sixth inning on just 10 pitches, also preserving himself for a chance to pitch later in the regional. Austin Williamson took care of the next two innings with one run allowed, and Connor McCreery cleaned up the final three innings.

South Carolina will take on No. 3 seed North Carolina State in the winner’s bracket game at 6 p.m. tomorrow, while Central Connecticut State will face Campbell at noon in the first elimination game of the weekend.

“It was fun,” Hicks said. “It felt like two months ago, like what we used to do. It just felt like us again. It was good energy.”

Kingston sid not name a starting pticher for the North Carolina State game, but strongly hinted it would be staff ace Jack Mahoney.

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