Baseball Uses Late Runs to Defeat Winthrop

ROCK HILL – The University of South Carolina baseball team scored once in the eighth inning and two times in the ninth to break a 2-all tie and give the Gamecocks a 5-2 win Wednesday night (April 20) at Winthrop Ballpark.
 
Carolina opened the scoring by plating two runs in the top of the first. Brandt Belk and Braylen Wimmer singled to lead off. Belk moved to third on a double play and scored on a wild pitch. Andrew Eyster then walked and scored on Talmadge LeCroy’s double to right.
 
Winthrop tied the game with single runs in the second and third. The score remained deadlocked at two until the eighth. Belk was hit by a pitch, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt and scored on LeCroy’s RBI single. Carolina then scored two in the ninth on a Belk sacrifice fly and a wild pitch that scored Evan Stone.
 
Cade Austin earned the win in relief, striking out a batter in two hitless innings. Matthew Becker earned his fourth save, striking out the side in the ninth.
 
LeCroy, Wimmer and Michael Braswell had two hits apiece in the win, while LeCroy drove in a pair.

POSTGAME NOTES

• Brandt Belk extended his hit streak to 23 games with a single in the first inning.
• Eli Jones made his fourth start of the year. He allowed a run and struck out a batter in two innings.
• Carolina swept the two-game series with Winthrop. The Gamecocks won in Columbia in February.

UP NEXT
Carolina opens a three-game set at No. 19 Auburn Friday night (April 22) at 6 p.m. CT (7 p.m. ET) at Plainsman Park. The game will be on SEC Network Plus.