South Carolina baseball defeats NC State to advance to Columbia Regional championship

All throughout South Carolina’s arduous final weeks of the regular season, head coach Mark Kingston insisted that injuries caused USC’s offense to scuffle. When the SEC Tournament ended, Kingston said he thought a week of healing would help the Gamecocks recapture the early season “magic” they had seemingly lost at the plate.

Through two games of the NCAA Tournament, Kingston’s words have so far proven prophetic.

Playing postseason baseball in front of the hometown crowd at Founders Park this weekend, the USC offense is humming much like it did in the beginning of the season — when the Gamecocks got off to the team’s best start since 1975. The No. 1 seed Gamecocks took down No. 3 seed N.C. State 6-3 in Saturday night’s winners bracket showdown.

With the victory, the Gamecocks (41-19) are one win away from advancing to super regional play, while the Wolfpack (36-20) will rematch with No. 2 seed Campbell in Sunday’s noon elimination game.

In the week leading up to the regional, Kingston and the Gamecocks talked about the importance of getting back to offensive fundamentals — working the count, limiting strikeouts, driving the ball through the middle of the field. The early returns of that work have been overwhelmingly positive. While Saturday’s win wasn’t nearly as lopsided as Friday’s 19-1 win over Central Connecticut State, the Gamecocks displayed the same patient, grind-it-out approach at the plate that makes at-bats uncomfortable for opposing pitchers.

A two-run home run by shortstop Braylen Wimmer in the third inning started the scoring for the Gamecocks, but they did the bulk of their damage in a four-run fifth inning. The Gamecocks tallied just three hits in the inning, but they walked four times and chewed through three N.C. State pitchers, forcing starter Matt Willadsen to leave with two outs and 90 pitches. Then, with the bases loaded, first baseman Gavin Casas ripped a two-run single and Michael Braswell followed with an RBI single to extend the lead to 6-0.

That outburst was enough to bury the Wolfpack, who had a tough go of it against top USC starter Jack Mahoney. After taking down No. 2 seed Campbell 5-1 on Friday, N.C. State couldn’t figure out Mahoney for much of the game. Touching 96 miles per hour and working low in the zone with his power sinker, Mahoney retired 10 in a row at one point and threw five scoreless innings before running into trouble in the sixth inning.

N.C. State showed signs of life in the sixth, tallying three straight singles with two outs to score their first run of the game. Then outfielder Chase Nixon drilled a two-run double to cut the Gamecock lead in half. The Wolfpack attempted to rally again in the seventh against reliever Eli Jones, singling twice with one out, but an inning-ending double play neutralized the rally. Closer Chris Veach entered with two men on in the ninth to earn the save.

The Wolfpack will try to keep its season alive against the Camels in Sunday’s elimination game, with the winner taking on the Gamecocks at 6 p.m. With one more win, the Gamecocks will advance to their first super regional since Kingston’s first season as head coach in 2018.

Columbia Regional schedule

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, Noon (TV: ESPN Plus)

Game 4 – (1) South Carolina vs. (3) N.C. State, 6 p.m. (TV: ESPN Plus)

Sunday, June 4

Game 5 – (2) Campbell vs. (3) N.C. State, Noon (TV TBA)

Game 6 – (1) South Carolina vs. Winner Game 5, 6 p.m. (TV TBA)

Monday, June 5

Game 7 – If necessary, TBD (TV TBA)