South Carolina baseball tops Davidson, pushes win streak to 4 games. What we saw
South Carolina baseball extended its win streak to four games with a victory on Tuesday night.
Head coach Monte Lee and the Gamecocks (19-19) took care of business at Founders Park and beat Davidson 8-6. The Gamecocks, who have now reached the .500 mark on the season, were powered by early offense and solid relief pitching.
“We’ve been able to find a way to win those close games and get over that hump,” Lee said.
“So that just gives the guys confidence that, hey, we can do this. We can play nine complete innings of baseball and find ways to win a tight ball game. ... That’s what good teams do. They win the tight ball games with nine outs to go. And we’ve been able to do that as of late, and hopefully we can continue to do that.”
South Carolina will turn its attention to an SEC series this weekend: The Gamecocks are set to host No. 17 Mississippi State for three games starting Friday.
You get a homer, you get a homer, everyone gets a homer!
Neither team’s starting pitcher saw much action on the mound in Tuesday night’s game due to an early onslaught of offense. All but one of the first nine total runs scored in the game came via home runs.
The Gamecocks sent nine batters to the plate and recorded five runs on five hits in the first inning alone. Davidson’s starting pitcher, Jacob Vokal, was taken out of the game after 33 pitches in two-thirds of an inning.
South Carolina’s leadoff batter, first baseman Will Craddock, got the scoring started with a solo home run to right. Just two batters later, catcher Talmadge LeCroy launched a homer of his own over the wall in left field that made it a 3-1 game.
Third baseman Dawson Harman recorded a double in the next at-bat but didn’t stay on the bases long. Shortstop KJ Scobey gave South Carolina a 5-1 lead going into the second inning by depositing a two-run homer over the wall in left-center.
“The reason that we scored five runs in the first inning is because Craddock,” Lee said. “When you go up there as a leadoff guy and you hammer a ball in a two-strike count, it’s like, ‘Okay, we’re going to be okay.’”
Still, Davidson’s offense didn’t flinch and responded right away.
The Wildcats started the top of the second with back-to-back singles and cut South Carolina’s lead to 5-4 on a three-run homer from catcher Brendan Fritch.
Shortshop Fredy Diaz tied the game up three pitches later when his solo shot made it a 5-5 game. The homer from Diaz ended the night for South Carolina starting pitcher Riley Goodman. The freshman threw 33 pitches in one inning and gave up five earned runs.
Davidson took a 6-5 lead in the top of the fourth inning on a solo homer from centerfielder Jamie Daly.
USC’s middle relievers slow Davidson down
Junior right-hander Josh Gregoire came in to finish the second inning for South Carolina and promptly struck out the next three batters.
Gregoire nearly did the same in the third inning. He forced Davidson to go three up and three down after two strikeouts and a pop out. The only blemish on Gregoire’s line came in the fourth inning when he gave up a homer and a walk.
The solo shot gave Davidson a 6-5 lead, and Gregoire was taken out after he walked the next batter. He finished the outing with five strikeouts and one earned run in 2.2 innings of work.
Logan Prisco took over for Gregoire.
“Prisco has been so good for us all year long,” Lee said. “Anytime we need strikes, and we need the guy to give us length and to bail us out it seems like he’s the guy that we tend to go to because we trust him, and he’s done just such a good job for us.”
Prisco was nearly perfect on the mound. The left-handed sophomore gave up zero hits and allowed zero runs in his 2.1 innings of work. Prisco struck out five batters. The walk he allowed in the sixth inning kept him from a perfect couple of innings.
“He’s really tough,” Lee said. “He just throws a ton of strikes, and I just love his confidence. ... He was a huge part of why we won the game tonight. He kept (Davidson) at bay there in the middle of the game.”
Meanwhile, South Carolina’s offense was able to take an 8-6 lead into the sixth inning. The runs came after RBI singles from Tyler Bak and LeCroy in the fourth inning and an RBI ground out in the fifth from Luke Yuhasz.
Gamecocks avoid late trouble
Josh Gunther took over the pitching duties for South Carolina in the seventh inning and found himself in trouble relatively quickly.
Gunter got two quick outs but then walked two straight batters. After an infield single, Davidson suddenly had the bases loaded.
Lucky for the Gamecocks, Parker Marlatt got the final out of the inning. Marlatt kept the good work up in the eighth inning when he forced Davidson to go three up and three down.
South Carolina had a shot to add on in the bottom of the eighth inning but stranded two baserunners late.
Cooper Parks took the mound for the Gamecocks in the ninth and successfully avoided blowing the save. Davidson got two runners on base in the ninth but left both stranded as South Carolina notched the 8-6 victory.
“They were very, very competitive at the plate against us tonight,” Lee said of Davidson. “They earned what they got on the offensive side. But, we did just enough, swung the bats well, and had a number of guys that threw the ball well.”
South Carolina’s upcoming schedule
- Friday, April 17 at 7 p.m. vs. Mississippi State (SEC Network+)
- Saturday, April 18 at 1 p.m. vs. Mississippi State (SEC Network)
- Sunday, April 19 at 1:30 p.m. vs. Mississippi State (SEC Network+)
This story was originally published April 14, 2026 at 9:42 PM.
