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Blake Jackson hit two of the Gamecocks'
four home runs Friday after they didn't homer
last weekend. (USC photo) |
Player of the day: Blake Jackson, USC, 2B, 2 HR, 3 RBI
Honorable mention player of the day
* Davis Turner, Limestone, 2 HR, walk-off grand slam, 8 RBI
Game of the day (three-way tie)
* No. 24 South Carolina 6, No. 4 Kentucky 5, 10 innings - Blake Jackson's second home run in as many innings lifted South Carolina (28-13, 10-9) to a walk-off win over the East Division-leading Wildcats (32-8, 15-4) in the opener of a Southeastern Conference series.
Charleston Southern transfer Ryan Waldschmidt homered to give the Wildcats a 1-0 lead in the third, but Carolina's Kennedy Jones singled in a run to tie the score in the bottom of the inning.
Meanwhile, former College of Charleston teammates Trey Pooser of UK and Ty Good of USC were dealing on the mound.
Kentucky broke through with three runs in the ninth inning to put the Gamecocks behind the 8-ball as Wildcats closer Johnny Hummel - a transfer from Erskine - came on to pitch.
But Jackson greeted him with a homer. Dalton Reeves, who also began his career at Erskine before a stop at Presbyterian - hit a pinch-hit homer. Gavin Casas followed within another pinch homer to tie the score and force extra innings.
Kentucky got a two-out hit for a 5-4 lead in the top of the 10th.
Jones drew a walk and Jackson, a transfer from Charlotte, followed with a blast off the railing above the left-field wall for the win.
Game 2 of the series is set for 6 p.m. Saturday.
* No. 5 Clemson 12, Louisville 11 - The Tigers scored four runs in the ninth inning to complete an eight-run comeback for a win over the Cardinals in the opener of an ACC series.
Clemson (33-8, 14-5) scored four runs in the fourth inning, but Louisville (24-17) erupted for 10 runs in the bottom of the inning for an 11-4 lead. The Tigers scored two runs in the fifth and single runs in the seventh and eighth innings to pull within 11-8.
In the ninth, Jacob Hinderleider had an RBI single, Blake Wright had a sacrifice fly and Jimmy Obertop added a run-scoring single to tie the score. Cam Cannarella singled through the right side of the infield to give the Tigers the lead and Austin Gordon closed things out in the bottom of the inning.
The Tigers' Matthew Marchal (5-0) pitched four shutout innings of relief to keep the Cardinals within reach.
Alden Mathes had three hits and five teammates had two apiece. Wright extended his hitting streak to 11 games.
Game 2 of the series is at 1 p.m. Saturday.
* Presbyterian 10, USC Upstate 9 - Jay Wetherington's two-run single capped a three-run eighth inning as the Blue Hose (21-21, 11-5) rallied to beat the first-place Spartans (27-15, 12-4) in Big South Conference action at Pollock Field.
The teams swapped leads several times. David Pereira's two-run homer pulled Upstate into a 7-7 tie in the seventh and Jace Rinehart homered as part of a two-run eighth to give the Spartans a 9-7 lead.
Jackson Hugus' bases-loaded groundout got the Blue Hose within a run in the eighth and Wetherington delivered his hit later in the innings.
Jake Randolph had four hits for PC. Koby Kropf joined Pereira and Rinehart in homering for Upstate, which has a program-record 79/
Game 2 of the series is set for 4 p.m. Saturday in Clinton.
Honorable mention game of the day
* Limestone 12, Tusculum 8, 11 innings - Davis Turner's grand slam - his second homer of the game - gave the Saints a walk-off win in their South Atlantic Conference series opener. Turner drove in eight runs.
Elsewhere: Troy scored five runs in the seventh to take Game 1 of a Sun Belt Conference showdown series at No. 13 Coastal Carolina ... Danny Leo and Josh Adams combined on a four-hit shutout as Francis Marion upended No. 16 Mount Olive in the opener of a Conference Carolinas series ... Kody Hanna's eighth-inning grand slam lifted Coker past Carson-Newman in the opener of a South Atlantic Conference series ... Marshall Toole singled, tripled and homered to drive in six runs as Wofford run-ruled Western Carolina in the opener of a Southern Conference series ... An eight-run first gave North Greenville all it needed to win the opener of a Conference Carolinas series at Erskine ... Riley Ramsey had four hits, including a homer, in his return after missing five games with an injury as Bob Jones took a run-rule win over Mid-Atlantic Christian to open a series ... Matias Marchesini and Devin Makovsky combined for an eight-inning one-hitter as Newberry took the opener of a South Atlantic Conference series with Emory & Henry ... Trey Princiotto struck out 11 in 8 2/3 innings as Anderson took the opener of its South Atlantic Conference series with Virginia Wise ... A four-run fifth inning put Campbell ahead and the Camels held on to beat College of Charleston the opener of a Coastal Athletic Association series. The loss ended a nine-game winning streak for the Cougars ... Georgia Southwestern scored four runs in the ninth to snap Lander's 14-game winning streak in the opener of Peach Belt Conference series ... Southern Wesleyan scored six runs in the first inning but was shut out the rest of the way as UNC Pembroke rallied to win the Conference Carolinas game ... Savannah State took a pair at Benedict in Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play ... Scott McDonough had two doubles and a homer to drive in three runs in Game 1, but Columbia International lost a pair to NAIA No. 9 Reinhardt to complete its regularly season ... Columbus State handed Claflin its 41st consecutive loss.
Campbell 11, College of Charleston 5 -
Cha: Cole Mathis 3-3, HR, 2 BB, 2 R, 2 RBIClemson 12, Louisville 11 -
Cle: Tristan Bissetta 2-4, BB, 2 R, 4 RBICoker 8, Carson-Newman 5 -
Cok: Aaron Diaz W, 8 IP, 3 ER, 7 K Reinhardt 6, Columbia International 5, Game 2 -
Col: Collin Otte 2 IP, 4 KSavannah State 15, Benedict 4, Game 1 -
Ben: Frankey Moree 3B, 2 SB, R, RBISavannah State 13, Benedict 2, Game 2 -
Ben: Jamell Mitchell Jr. 1B, 2B, SB, R
Postponed to April 27
The Citadel at East Tennessee State
(20/1174)
Beyond the border
ACC: No. 14 Virginia evened its series with Boston College, 4-3 ... No. 15 North Carolina opened its series with an 8-1 win over Virginia Tech ... No. 10 Florida State edged No. 6 Duke, 4-2 ... No. 21 N.C. State topped Ball State, 10-2 ... No. 8 Wake Forest held off Notre Dame, 4-3 ... Miami beat Georgia Tech, 6-4.
SEC: Charlie Condon homered for No. 20 Georgia, but No. 1 Texas A&M took the opener of the series, 5-2 ... No. 2 Arkansas scored a run in the eighth to edge Florida, 2-1 ... No. 3 Tennessee clinched a series win over Missouri, 3-2 ... No. 11 Vanderbilt shut out Mississippi State, 4-0 ... LSU beat Auburn, 5-0 ... Ole Miss edged No. 18 Alabama, 9-8.
Elsewhere: No. 7 East Carolina pounded Memphis, 14-0 ... UNCW won its CAA series opener with William & Mary, 5-4 ... No. 9 Oregon State beat No. 22 Oregon, 2-0 ... Sun Belt Conference leader No. 17 Louisiana beat Southern Miss, 3-2 ... Southern Illinois beat No. 25 Indiana State, 3-2 ... Catawba clinched the top seed for the SAC Tournament with a 2-1 win over Wingate ... Young Harris remained in a tie with North Greenville for the Conference Carolinas lead with 8-6 win over Belmont Abbey.
