There was no mayonnaise bath involved, but USC baseball coach Mark Kingston got plenty of satisfaction out of this trip to Charlotte with Gamecock baseball fans. Just as the football team did to the Tar Heels in December at the stadium up the street, the Gamecocks dominated the Tar Heels on the diamond to the tune of 15-2 at Truist Field.
Add this win to victories over the Tar Heels in football, women’s soccer and women’s basketball, and it’s been a good year for the Gamecocks head-to-head with their neighbors to the north.
Early offense and some quality pitching were the stories for the Gamecocks. They scored six runs over the first three innings while Eli Jones and Aidan Hunter shut out the Tar Heels until the bottom of the sixth.
The Gamecocks scored a run in the first on a double-play ball, added two in the second on a single by Brandt Belk who extended his hitting streak to 17 games, and three in the third on a Jack Mahoney home run. The Gamecocks added two more runs in the fifth with Kevin Madden scoring from third on a passed ball and Colin Burgess driving in a run with a single. They then poured it on in the ninth scoring seven more times off a variety of North Carolina pitchers. UNC used nine arms on the night.
The Gamecocks finished with a season high for runs with 15 and matched their season high for hits with 14. Braylen Wimmer led the hit parade with three. USC batted .556 with runners in scoring position and .458 with runners on base.
Hunter (5-2) earned the win by working four innings and allowing one run on three hits. He struck out six and walked two. Six USC pitchers scattered seven hits, struck out ten and walked five.
USC evens their record at 14-14 and the Tar Heels fall to 20-9. This was just the second win for the Gamecocks against the Tar Heels in the six games of the series played in Charlotte.
The Gamecocks will open a weekend series at home against Georgia Friday night.
