Avenging a frustrating midweek loss to Presbyterian, South Carolina got back on track with a commanding 11-0 victory over the No. 19 LSU Tigers Friday night at Founders Park.
Logan Chapman proved untouchable in his ninth start for the Gamecocks, heading to the showers with two out in the seventh after striking out six and surrendering just two hits and two walks. Meanwhile, the Gamecocks rang up LSU's pitching staff for 14 hits in 34 at-bats in what might have been their most dominant offensive showing of 2018.
"We followed our worst game of the year, probably, with our best," said South Carolina head coach Mark Kingston. "I don't think you can question the heart that this team has ... obviously this Tuesday was a real gut punch for everybody, so to bounce back like this with two real good practices and preparation, good to see us come out and play like that."
On offense, South Carolina kept the Tigers on their toes early and often in the game, recording hits in every inning but the second.
As the second Gamecock batter of the night, Carlos Cortes kicked things off with one out in the bottom of the first with his ninth home run of the year, tying team leader Jacob Olson with a solo shot to right on Zack Hess's full-count offering.
Still ahead 1-0 with bases juiced in the fourth, the Gamecocks got another run when Madison Stokes scored on Justin Row's ground out into a double play to make it 2-0, and six pitches later TJ Hopkins lined a double to left center to score LT Tolbert. Row would add another RBI on a seventh-inning groundout to stretch the lead to 5-0.
The floodgates opened the bottom of the eighth when LSU looked to Clay Moffitt to stop the bleeding with two on and none out after Cam Sanders headed home with four earned runs on four hits in his only inning of relief. First up, Cortes drove Moffitt's second pitch down the right-field line to bring Hunter Taylor home and add the extra run to South Carolina's six-run lead. Moffitt was replaced by freshman righthander Trent Vietmeier three batters later after Tolbert brought Noah Campbell home on a flyout to give the Gamecocks an 8-0 head start.
At first Vietmeier appeared to be the answer for an overtaxed Tiger bullpen, walking Jonah Bride before striking out Row to get the second out of the inning. The feeling was short-lived as Hopkins followed Row by sending a 2-2 pitch off the right-field wall for a three-RBI triple, giving South Carolina six runs in the inning and an ultimate 11-0 lead.
In his second at-bat of the inning, Cortes struck out looking to Vietmeier to send the game to the ninth.
On the opposite side of the bat, LSU failed to find any offensive footing and took just two hits into the ninth, where Hunter Lomas needed just four batters to send the Tigers home and give South Carolina its first Friday night win since March 30.
LSU left seven men on base in the loss, its second in a row after falling 10-9 at Tulane on Wednesday night.
Chapman improved to 3-0 with the win. After the game, he said he'd been confident that Friday's outing would be a quality one.
"Before the game in the bullpen, I knew it was gonna be a really good day," Chapman said. "After the first pitch, I kind of shook it off and then went right back to it and started to grind."
Chapman hit LSU outfielder Beau Jordan with his first pitch of the game but quickly recovered, striking out two and forcing a groundout to set the tone for six dominant innings to follow.
Kingston commended his starter for allowing the offense to play with unmatched confidence Friday night, which contributed to their second double-digit win over a ranked opponent on the season.
"It all starts with the guy on the mound," Kingston said. "I think teams can look like they have a lot of energy and like they have a lot of pep in their step when the starter is dominating, and which he did tonight. And it kind of allows the offense to relax."
On Saturday, the Gamecocks will look to clinch their first conference series since sweeping Tennessee at the end of March. First pitch at Founders Park is scheduled for 4 p.m.