Feeling Super! Gamecocks club Campbell, advance in NCAA Tournament

A “Game-Cocks” chant erupted at Founders Park as Will Sanders delivered the final pitch of the game, a dominating 16-7 South Carolina win. 

Tyler Halstead lifted a lazy fly ball to Dylan Brewer in left, one he didn’t have to move but maybe five feet for. The cheering amplified and Talmage LeCroy, a few feet away at third base, began to celebrate before Brewer put the final squeeze on the Columbia regional. 

For the first time since 2018, South Carolina is heading to a Super Regional. 

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“It’s awesome knowing you can play some more baseball. That’s what we’ve been working for all season. To win these games when it matters,” said LeCroy, who finished Sunday with five RBI. 

“Watching the ball go into his glove let out so much emotion from probably all nine position players and everyone in that dugout. It was really nice.” 

The Gamecocks (42-19) bludgeoned Campbell like they had the entirety of the Columbia regional, putting up a cavalcade of runs Sunday in a regional final. They now clinch a spot in the Supers against either Texas Tech or Florida. 

An offense that sputtered down the stretch–scoring just 33 runs over the 10 games leading up to the NCAA Tournament–exploded for 41 over three games with 16 of those in Sunday’s slugfest. 

After Campbell jumped out to a quick two-run lead, the Gamecocks responded with nine unanswered runs in part because of a seven-run third inning. 

South Carolina scored seven runs on 12 pitches with the meat of it coming on four consecutive hits starting with Ethan Petry and ending with a Gavin Casas two-run double. 

The exclamation point came on a Will McGillis two-run homer, a laser beam to left, while the designated hitter slammed his bat to the ground and skip-jumped his way to first base.

“Hitting is contagious. It makes the ball look a little bit bigger when you go up there and hammer it. It’s what we did at the beginning of the season,” LeCroy said. “Things aren’t always going to go your way but things are going our way right now.” 

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The Gamecocks scored in five straight innings, taking advantage of 10 free passes and four Campbell errors. They did, though, put up 17 hits with five of those going for extra bases. 

Eight of the nine starters picked up at least one hit. Seven drove in at least one run for an offense that looked elite with a full stable of players. 

“There was no loss of faith. This team knew it was good and enduring some unprecedented things,” Mark Kingston said. “Everyone has injuries. But to have so many key ones and have to move so many pieces around we just had to weather the storm. We said that a million times.”

Starter Matthew Becker gave up five runs over three-plus innings, all on Logan Jordan homers. But the Gamecocks’ bullpen settled things down. 

Nick Proctor got out of a one-on, no-out jam in just six pitches with a strikeout and double play en route to his longest outing–three innings–of the season. 

Will Sanders slammed the door while looking like his old self. He gave up a hit and a walk over three innings with six strikeouts. 

“I couldn’t ask for anything more to go to a Super Regional, especially with this group of guys. It’s probably one of the most fun weekends of my life,” Proctor said. “It’s like a dream come true.” 

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South Carolina advances now to play either Florida or Texas Tech in a Super Regional. The Gamecocks now need two more wins to get to Omaha. 

If the Gators win Monday’s winner-take-all game the Super will be in Gainesville. If the Red Raiders emerge victorious, the Super will be in Columbia. 

“This is why you come to South Carolina. As a player and as a coach you want to have the chance to do this. As much as we want to snap our fingers and have it magically happen every year that’s not the reality,” Kingston said. 

“It doesn’t always go our way. But in this building, what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger. It’s the players and coaches on the same page with that. We keep fighting and keep fighting together.” 

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Up next: South Carolina advances to a Super Regional. The Gamecocks will face either Florida or Texas Tech next weekend. The winner will to the College World Series in Omaha. That will start on either Friday or Saturday.