State scoreboard, Thursday, April 6

Ethan Petry was named midseason
national freshman of the year by a pair
of national Websites this week. (USC photo)

Player of the day: Ethan Petry 2 HR, HBP, SF, 8 RBI

COLUMBIA - Ethan Petry hit two of South Carolina's four home runs as the sixth-ranked Gamecocks hammered No. 1 LSU, 13-5, in the opener of a Southeastern Conference series in front of 8,242 at Founders Park.

Petry got the Gamecocks (28-3, 9-1) going with a two-run homer against LSU ace Paul Skenes in the first inning. He added a grand slam in the fifth and got his seventh and eighth RBI on a sacrifice fly and hit-by-pitch respectively.  

Braylen Wimmer and Dylan Brewer also homered for USC, which survived 15 strikeout by Tigers pitchers.

USC No. 1 starter Will Sanders, who sat out last weekend,  struck out four and allowed an unearned run in three innings. He left after the game was halted for more than an hour by a lightning delay.

LSU fell to 25-5, 6-4. Carolina has now exceeded its 2022 season win total.

The teams are scheduled to conclude the series at noon Friday with a doubleheader, although the weather forecast is not promising.

Briefly:  Graham Brown doubled and homered to drive in four runs as No. 17 Coastal Carolina won the opener of a Sun Belt Conference series ... Florida State pitchers struck out 16 Clemson batters in winning the ACC series opener, snapping a 10-game losing streak for the Seminoles ... Trey Yunger had five of Wofford's 21 hits as the Terriers rolled in the opener of a Southern Conference road series ... Nate Chronis' fifth inning single gave Winthrop the winning run in the opener of and Three Charleston Southern relievers combined for seven shutout innings for a Big South Conference doubleheader split ... Ashby Smith opened Erskine's scoring with a first-inning single and capped it with a second-inning grand slam as the Flying Fleet won the opener and an unearned run delivered a walk-off against Mount Olive in the nightcap ... Oliver Zohn's third hit of the game led to the go-ahead run scoring on an error for Lander in Game 1 ... Troy Hamilton singled, homered and drove in six runs for USC Upstate in Game 1 and three Spartans combined for a two-hit shutout in the nightcap  ... Joseph Mozingo's two-run double gave USC Aiken a walk-off win in Game 1 and Nick Tripp homered twice in the nightcap ... Kyle Merkle's two-run double in the eighth inning of Game 2 led Presbyterian to a split of a Big South Conference doubleheader and handed No. 14 Campbell its first league loss ...  North Greenville clinched a series win by holding Chowan to a single run in each game, The Crusaders have a 5 1/2 game in Conference Carolinas with seven games remaining ... Young Harris' Peach Belt Conference sweep extended Claflin's season-opening losing streak to 30 ...

Ball State 3, The Citadel 2 - Cit: George Derrick Floyd 3.2 IP, 3 K
Barton 13, Southern Wesleyan 1, Game 1 - Sou: Josh Long 1B, BB, R
Barton 4, Southern Wesleyan 2, Game 2 - Sou: Cam Mitchem, HR

Bryan 20, Columbia International 4, Game 1 - Col: Price Alexander 2-3, RBI
Bryan 12, Columbia International 9, Game 2 - Col: James Lovera 3-4, 2B, 2 R, 2 RBI
Campbell 14, Presbyterian 7, Game 1 - PC: Kyle Merkle HR, 3 RBI
Presbyterian 3, Campbell 1, Game 2 - PC: Charlie McDaniel 6 IP, 4 H, R, 5 K
Coastal Carolina 10, Georgia State 4 - Coa: Jacob Morrison W, 5 IP, 0 R, 5 7 K
Erskine 7, Mount Olive 3, Game 1 - Ers: Armando Becerra 1B, BB, SB, 2 R, RBI

Erskine 11, Mount Olive 10. Game 2 - Ers: Armando Becerra 2-4, HR, BB, 3 R, 3 RBI

Florida State 5, Clemson 1 - Cle: Riley Bertram 1B, 2B, BB 

Lander 7, Georgia College 5, Game 1 - Lan: Connor Droze 1B, HR, BB, SB, 2 RBI

Georgia College 7, Lander 0, Game 2 - Lan: Bennett Sloper 2 K
North Greenville 5, Chowan 1, Game 1 - Nor: Carter Dierdorf 1B, 2B, R, RBI
North Greenville 8, Chowan 1, Game 2 - Nor Marek Chlup grand slam
South Carolina 13, LSU 5 - USC: Braylen Wimmer 1B, HR, 2 BB, 3 R, 2 RBI
USC Aiken 7, Augusta 6, Game 1 - Aik: Jackson Hannon 4-5, 2B, HR, 3 R, 2 RBI
USC Aiken 6, Augusta 3, Game 2 - Aik: Nick Tripp 2 HR, BB, 3 RBI
USC Upstate 18, Longwood 2, Game 1 - Up: Grant Sherrod 1B, 2B, 2 R, 3 RBI
USC Upstate 2, Longwood 0, Game 2 - Up: Mathieu Curtis W, 6 IP, 1 H, 5 K
Winthrop 4, Charleston Southern 3, Game 1 - Win: Ramses Cordova 2-3, 2B, 3 RBI
Charleston Southern 6, Winthrop 2, Game 2 - Cha: Jaylin Rae 1B, HR, BB
Wofford 11, East Tennessee State 6 - Wof: David Wiley 4-5, 2B, SB, 2 R
Young Harris 14, Claflin 1, 7 innings, Game 1 - Cla: Rufus Hurdle 2-3, RBI

Young Harris 14, Claflin 4, 8 innings, Game 2 - Cla: Jaden Lattimore 2-4, SB, 2 RBI

Canceled
Fort Lauderdale at Voorhees, DH
(25/914)