South Carolina played Texas A&M on Sunday night and won 5-4 at the College World Series.
Breaking it Down…The first inning didn’t begin well. Their lead-off hitter reached on an error, and things went down hill from there. That lead-off runner appeared to be thrown out at home by Jackie Bradley Jr, but he was inexplicably called safe. Roth then loaded the bases with walks and gave up a three run triple. After the smoke cleared the Gamecocks were down 4-0.
In the bottom of the first South Carolina answered like the defending champ that they are. Evan Marzilli was walked; then Scott Wingo and Christian Walker singled. A balk brought in one run, and an error on a ground ball brought in two more. Peter Mooney then singled in Morales to tie the game at 4.
The two pitchers settled in from there. Michael Roth pitched into the eighth without allowing another run. Ross Stipling, the A&M starter, pitched 8 full innings. The Gamecocks used John Taylor and Matt Price to set down the Aggies after Roth. In the bottom of the ninth, Robert Beary hit a lead off double. He then moved to third on Bradley’s single to left. Marzilli drew a walk. The Aggies responded by bringing in a fifth infielder. Wingo made that strategy moot when he drilled a ball off the right field fence to plate the winning run.
Star of the Game…Scott Wingo. Not only did the senior go 4 for 4 with a double, but he also had a walk off single and was his usual, dependable defensive self.
This and that…In pitching 7.1 innings of no earned run baseball, Roth lowered his ERA to 0.97 for the year….South Carolina moves to 51-14 on the year…The Gamecocks have now won 12 NCAA Tournament Games in a row and 7 College World Series games in a row…Carolina won their first game of the CWS for the first time since 1977….USC has the last 3 walk off hits at the college world series dating back to last season….South Carolina was the third SEC (East) team in as many tries to win in this year’s CWS…
Up next…South Carolina plays number 1 seed Virginia on Tuesday night on ESPN….Virginia will be the home team….If the Gamecocks win, they’ll play on Friday night; if they lose, they’ll play on Thursday night.
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