Cruising to supers! South Carolina ousts Campbell to win NCAA Columbia Regional
With a roaring “Gamecocks” chant reverberating through Founders Park, South Carolina outfielder Dylan Brewer closed his glove around a sky-high fly ball in left field, then screamed in excitement — the final out of the Columbia Regional.
The Gamecocks are super once more. No. 1 seed USC flexed its offensive might against No. 2 seed Campbell in Sunday’s regional final, defeating the Camels 16-7 to advance to its first super regional appearance since 2018 — Mark Kingston’s first year as head coach.
Postseason baseball is all about peaking at the right time. Whether slowed by injuries, fatigue or otherwise, the Gamecocks have woken up from their late-season slumber and look much more like the impenetrable force that opened the year 34-6.
After just narrowly earning a hosting bid as the 15th overall seed, the Gamecocks (42-19) won all three games they played in the Columbia Regional this weekend, outscoring opponents 41-11 and playing with a crispness in the field that they’ve lacked for weeks.
“We just had to weather the storm,” Kingston said. “We’ve said it a million times. But I thank everybody along the way that stuck with us. I thank everybody that stayed here tonight and helped celebrate with us winning the regional. It’s a tough league. It’s a really tough league when you’re at full strength and it’s a damn near impossible league when you’re not.”
USC is paired with the Gainesville Regional and will play at Florida in the program’s 14th super regional appearance next weekend. The three-game series will begin either Friday or Saturday. The NCAA will announce the schedule on Tuesday morning.
Campbell (46-15), a team that was very much in the hosting mix itself, gave the Gamecocks a brief scare Sunday after walloping N.C. State 11-1 earlier in the day to advance to the regional final. Center fielder Logan Jordan hit a two-run, no-doubt home run in the first inning against USC left-hander Matthew Becker, saddling the Gamecocks with their first deficit of the weekend.
But the Gamecocks wasted little time bouncing back, grinding through at-bats against the Camels pitching staff as they’ve done all weekend long. The game-breaking inning came in the third, when the Gamecocks came out swinging against starter Ty Cummings and tallied seven runs on just 12 pitches.
Similar to USC’s 11-run fourth against Central Connecticut State on Friday, hitting became highly contagious for the Gamecocks in the third. Starting with middle-of-the-order bats Ethan Petry and Cole Messina, USC strung together five consecutive hits to plate its first three runs of the inning. Then Will McGillis blew the game open with a two-run shot to left field. His return to the top of the lineup after a length arm injury has been an offensive boost for the Gamecocks. In all, USC scored seven runs on eight hits in the inning.
“Hitting is definitely contagious,” said third baseman Talmadge LeCroy, who led USC with five RBI on three hits. “It makes the ball look a little bit bigger when you see somebody else go out there and hammer it. And it’s just what we we did earlier in the season. I guess we kind of got away from it a little bit. That’s baseball. Things aren’t always gonna go your way, but things are going our way right now.
The Camels didn’t fold, and Jordan hit a second home run — a three-run shot — in the bottom of the third to cut the deficit to four runs. But the USC offense kept applying pressure and scored in a variety of ways, from a perfectly executed squeeze bunt from freshman Will Tippett to a home run by shortstop Braylen Wimmer. Third baseman Talmadge LeCroy led the team with five RBI on three hits in a 17-hit offensive performance.
Though Becker didn’t have his best stuff for the Gamecocks, the rested USC bullpen picked up the slack behind him. Reliever Nick Proctor helped stabilize the game in the middle innings, pitching out of a jam in the fourth and allowing two runs in his three innings out of the bullpen. Coming off a “slight lower body injury,” former ace starter Will Sanders made his second appearance of the weekend and threw three scoreless innings to end the game — an encouraging sign for the embattled junior pitcher.
Now, the Gamecocks are two wins away from advancing to the College World Series in Omaha — a far cry from the four straight series losses USC had to end the season. Kingston has said many times that team’s faith in itself never wavered.
“I’m just happy for these guys,” Kingston said. “What they’ve been through the last month has not been easy. It’s not been easy for them. But they endured it, and they’re better because of it.”
Columbia Regional schedule, scores
Friday, June 2
Game 1 – (3) N.C. State 5, (2) Campbell 1
Game 2 – (1) South Carolina 19, (4) Central Connecticut State 1
Saturday, June 3
Game 3 – (2) Campbell 10 vs. (4) Central Connecticut State 5
Game 4 – (1) South Carolina 6, (3) N.C. State 3
Sunday, June 4
Game 5 – (2) Campbell 11 vs. (3) N.C. State 1
Game 6 – (1) South Carolina 16, (2) Campbell 7
This story was originally published June 4, 2023 at 9:20 PM.
