South Carolina's offense woke up for a three-run seventh and Brett Kerry struck out five in an adventuresome final two innings in Knoxville Saturday night as the Gamecocks (16-7, 1-4) beat Tenneesse, 3-2, for its first SEC victory of the season.
The Vols (19-5, 1-4) scored single runs in the fifth and sixth innings against USC starter Reid Morgan. One of the runs was unearned.
With one out in the seventh, T.J. Hopkins singled and Jacob Olson was hit by a pitch. One out later after a double steal, Chris Cullen doubled to right to tie the score. Pinch-hitter Jordan Holladay followed with a double to give USC the lead.
Cam Tringali pitched around a two-out double in the Tennessee seventh.
Kerry came in to pitch the eighth and walked the first two batters. Jake Rucker's sacrifice bunt attempt turned into a single to load the bases. Kerry struck out the next three batters, the last two on full counts.
In the Vols' ninth, Max Ferguson had a leadoff double. After a strikeout and a groundout, Andre Lipcius walked to put the potential winning run on base. Kerry ended the game by freezing Alerick Soularie on a 2-2 pitch.
Three of USC's five hits came in the seventh. Carolina tries for a series win Sunday at 2 p..m.
Elsewhere:
* Winthrop (13-9, 5-0) broke a 2-2 tie with five runs in the seventh and extended its winning streak to seven games with a 9-3 win at Longwood to clinch a Big South Conference series win. Matthew Mulkey had four hits for the Eagles.
* Clemson (18-5, 6-2) clinched a series win at Boston College with a 9-5 victory. The Tigers had eight extra-base hits. including an inside-the-park homer by Bryce Teodosio.
* Shane Connolly pitched a four-hit shutout as The Citadel (8-15, 1-1) beat VMI, 1-0, to end a seven-game losing streak and even the SoCon series at 1-1. The Bulldogs were held to three hits, but Ryan McCarthy's RBI single in the first inning was one of them.
* Kyle Skeels' fourth hit of the day was a two-run homer in the ninth inning to give Coastal Carolina (18-4-1, 5-0) a walk-off 9-7 victory over Troy (10-13, 0-5) to clinch its second straight Sun Belt Conference series win. Parker Chavers, out for almost two weeks with an injury, also homered for the Chanticleers.
* Wofford (17-8) scored in every inning but the fifth and held on for a 14-11 victory at Florida A&M (10-15) to even their series at 1-1. John Dempsey doubled twice, homered and drove in four runs for the Terriers.
* Newberry (26-7, 10-1) improved to 19-0 at home and extended its South Atlantic Conference lead with wins of 9-4 and 6-2 over Anderson. Newberry is tied with Arizona State (also 19-0) for the best home record in NCAA baseball this season.
* Emmanuel snapped North Greenville's 12-game wining streak with a walk-off 2-1 win in the opener, but the Crusaders (24-7) got as 9-0 shutout win in the nightcap of the Conference Carolinas twinbill.
* Lander (11-18, 7-7) fell behind 4-0 after an inning and escaped a bases-loaded situation in the ninth to clinch a Peach Belt Conference series win at Francis Marion (18-11, 9-8), 9-6. Carson Jones had a homer and drove in three runs for the Bearcats.
* Blake Bottomley homered and drove in six runs and Zach Rafuse (6-0) combined with three relievers for a 12-strikeouts shutout and USC Aiken (17-11, 9-5) evened its Peach Belt Conference series with Columbus State (18-8, 7-4) with an 11-0 victory.
* Voorhees (3-9-2) won the opener of a weekend home-and-home with College of Faith, 13-7, to get its second win since Adrian West returned as head coach after a hiatus of several years.
* Florence-Darlington Tech (23-8, 8-2) did its best work in the late innings of a 7-3, 21-7 Region 10 doubleheader sweep of Louisburg. The Stingers scored all seven runs in the seventh inning of the opener, where Will Abbott struck out 12 in pitching a complete game. Tech scored eight runs in the fourth and 10 in the fifth as it run-ruled the Hurricanes in Game 2.
* USC Salkehatchie (8-22, 1-9) got its first Region 10 win of the season in the opener, 5-0, against USC Sumter (15-15, 3-3) behind Dylan Brazell's shutout and Ashton Hawkins' two hits and two RBIs. The Fire Ants used a complete game by Alex Sanchez for a 6-1 win in Game 2.
* Bobby Crisp homered for USC Lancaster (20-5, 7-3) as it edged USC Union in the opener. 3-2, but the Bantams (6-10, 2-4) won the nightcap, 1-0.
* Furman (5-15, 0-2) was unable to hold a lead through the first inning for the second straight game and lost to Samford (16-6, 2-0), 14-4. Sonny DiChiara hit a pair of homers for the Bulldogs. Sterling Turmon had a two-run homer in the Paladins' three-run first inning. Samford has hit .389 with 6 doubles, a triple and 6 homers so far this weekend.
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