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| Daniel Lloyd capped three shutout innings by striking out the side in the Virginia ninth. (USC photo) |
Columbia Regional: Gamecocks rally to beat Virginia
South Carolina got solid relief pitching from Julian Bosnic and Daniel Lloyd and got timely hits in the sixth inning to top Virginia, 4-3, in the opening game of the NCAA Columbia Regional at Founders Park.
Carolina advances to a 7 p.m. Saturday game against top seed Old Dominion. The Monarchs (43-14) beat Jacksonville, 4-3, after spotting the Dolphins three runs in the first and losing starting pitcher Hunter Gregory to a leg injury in the second inning.
Wes Clarke gave the Gamecocks (34-21) a 1-0 lead with an opposite-field homer in the first inning. It was his 23rd home run of the season.
Virginia took a 2-1 lead in the third on solo homers by brothers Jake and Zack Gelof. Gamecocks starter Brett Kerry left later in the inning with a muscle cramp in his neck. Bosnic came in and allowed a run on a Zack Gelof single in the fourth.
Meanwhile, Virginia starter Andrew Abbott held Carolina to two hits over the first five innings. George Callil worked a walk to lead off the USC sixth, but was still there with two out. Clarke drilled a one-hopper into the Cavaliers bullpen, with the ground-rule double preventing Callil from scoring, But Josiah Sightler smoked a ground-rule double into the right-field corner to tie the score. After Brennan Milone worked a walk against Cavaliers reliever Kyle Whitten, Collin Burgess ripped a single to left to score Sightler with the game's final run.
Lloyd scattered one hit over the final three innings, striking out the side in the ninth. to get his second save.
Virginia (29-24) plays Jacksonville (16-33) in an elimination game at noon Saturday.
Columbia cooking: Clarke moved into a tie with with Joe Datin, Nick Ebert and Justin Smoak on Carolina's single-season homers list ... Abbott entered Friday's game having gone 31 innings without allowing an earned run ... The Gamecocks didn't get a hitter to the plate with a runner in scoring position until Sightler's sixth-inning appearance ... Gamecocks coach Mark Kingston said Thomas Farr (3-6, 4.03) is the probable starter for Saturday ... Jacksonville pitcher Tyler Santana kept his team in contention, striking out nine in pitching a complete game. He retired 17 straight between the second and eighth innings ...
Columbia Regional
Founders Park, Columbia
South Carolina 4, Virginia 3 - USC: Wes Clarke, 2B, HR, 2 R
Old Dominion 4, Jacksonville 3
Nashville Regional: Blue Hose shut out in NCAA debut
Vanderbilt had three 3-run inning and held Presbyterian to two hits in a 10-0 victory in the first NCAA Tournament game in Blue Hose program history. Kumar Rocker and two relievers combined to strike out 12 in sending PC (22-22) to a 2 p.m. Saturday elimination game against Indiana State. Vanderbilt faces Georgia Tech Saturday night.
Dominic Keegan doubled and homered twice to drive in five runs for Vanderbilt (41-15), the No.4 national seed.
Eric Toth had a one-out double in the fourth and Kyle Decker had a one-out single in the sixth for Presbyterian.
Nashville nuggets: Georgia Tech scored five runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to rally past Indiana State, 7-6 ... Vanderbilt's win was Tim Corbin's 900th win as a college head coach, His first head coaching job was at Presbyterian and current Blue Hose coach Elton Pollock was one of his players ...
Nashville Regional
Hawkins Field, Nashville
Georgia Tech 7, Indiana 6
Vanderbilt 10, Presbyterian 0 - PC: Eric Toth 2B
Elsewhere
NCAA noshes: Former Furman pitcher John Michael Bertrand pitched a five-hit shutout as Notre Dame beat Central Michigan, 10-0. He walked one and struck out six ... Drew Gilbert's grand slam gave national No. 3 seed Tennessee a 9-8 walk-off win over Wright State. It was the Vols' seventh walk-off win of the season ... National No. 14 seed Florida lost to South Florida, 5-3 ... The ACC went 6-2 on Day 1. Winners were Florida State, Georgia Tech, Miami, N.C. State, North Carolina, Notre Dame. Losers were Duke and Virginia ... SEC teams were 6-3. Arkansas, Mississippi, Mississippi State and South Carolina joined Tennessee as winners. Alabama, Florida and LSU were losers ... No. 3 seeds defeating No. 2 seeds included Cal Santa Barbara (over Oklahoma State), Dallas Baptist (over Oregon State), Florida State (over Southern Mississippi), Liberty (over Duke) and North Carolina (over UCLA). Duke had won 12 straight entering Friday ... Arizona State tied the score on a bases-loaded hit-by-pitch in the ninth and beat Fairfield on a single by the next batter ... SoCon champ Samford lost to Mississippi State, CAA winner Northeastern fell to Nebraska, Sun Belt champ South Alabama was shut out by Miami and Big South at-large team Campbell was pummeled by Virginia Commonwealth ...
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