Baseball: Gamecocks cap sweep of Rebels

Freshman right-hander Adam Hill pitched six scoreless innings to earn his fifth win of the season and 10th-ranked South Carolina broke out of the gates with three runs in the first inning on the way to a 4-0 victory over sixth-ranked Ole Miss to sweep a three-game SEC series Saturday at Swayze Field.

The Gamecocks improved to 23-2 and own a 13-game winning streak and improved to 6-0 in SEC play, the first time in school history that Carolina has opened the year with six league wins. Ole Miss dropped to 20-5 and 2-4 in league play.

Hill (5-0) limited the Rebels to four hits and three walks while striking out four batters. Sophomore right-hander Tyler Johnson retired all five batters he faced to pick up his second save of the year. Ole Miss starter Andy Pagnozzi (4-1) allowed three runs, two earned, on six hits in 3  1/3 innings.

South Carolina struck for three runs in the top of the first inning. Gene Cone led off with a double to the gap in right-center and scored on John Jones’ one-out groundout to first base. Three consecutive hits gave the Gamecocks a 3-0 lead as Alex Destino doubled to left field, followed by a RBI base hit from Dom Thompson-Williams, who then stole second base and scored on Jonah Bride’s RBI single.

Carolina added an unearned run in the top of the fifth inning. Jones reached base on a one-out walk and advanced to third on a fielding error by second baseman Tate Blackman on a ball hit off the bat of Destino. Thompson-Williams drove in Jones with a sacrifice fly to left field.

Late Friday South Carolina 9, Ole Miss 5

Freshman right-hander Braden Webb struck out 14 batters in eight-plus innings and was backed by an offense that belted out 14 hits as South Carolina defeated Ole Miss.

After allowing three consecutive base runners to reach with one out in the first inning, Webb (5-1) retired 17 in a row and 23 of 25 at one stretch. Webb’s 14 strikeouts were the most by a Gamecock since Billy Buckner struck out 16 on March 6, 2004, against Clemson. Ole Miss starter Chad Smith (2-2) allowed five runs on eight hits in 4  2/3 innings with two walks and six strikeouts.

Ole Miss struck for two runs in the bottom of the first inning. Henri Lartigue and J.B. Woodman each drew one-out walks to set the stage for Colby Bortles, who doubled just out of the reach of Gamecock center fielder Dom Thompson-Williams to score both runners.

Carolina answered with a run in the top of the second inning. Thompson-Williams singled with one out, stole second base and scored on Chris Cullen’s two-out RBI single. Cullen knocked a 1-2 pitch from Smith into left field to cut the deficit to 2-1.

The Gamecocks scored a pair of runs in the third to take a 3-2 lead. Marcus Mooney led off with a single and Gene Cone walked to open the frame. LT Tolbert drove in Mooney with a base hit to right field. With two outs, Dom Thompson-Williams reached base on an infield single to score Cone and give the Gamecocks a one-run lead.

Carolina knocked Smith from the game in the fifth inning with two more runs. John Jones led off with a walk and Alex Destino singled to open the frame. After a wild pitch, Jonah Bride knocked in Jones with a one-out RBI groundout and Cullen drove in Destino with a two-out RBI double, giving the Gamecocks a 5-2 lead.

Carolina added a run in the eighth on an RBI fielder’s choice by Tolbert to score DC Arendas. The Gamecocks broke it open with three more runs in the ninth inning on four hits. A double steal, an RBI base hit from Mooney and an RBI double off the bat of Cone gave Carolina a seven-run advantage. Ole Miss tacked on three runs in the bottom of the ninth, but left-hander Josh Reagan came on and got the final two outs to preserve the victory.

Miami 9, Clemson 8

The Tigers rallied from a 7-2 deficit to take an 8-7 lead on Drew Wharton’s two-out, two-run single in the top of the inning, but Willie Abreu hit a two-run walkoff homer in the bottom of the inning as No. 4 Miami (Fla.) edged No. 12 Clemson at Mark Light Field. The Hurricanes, who took a 1-0 lead in the series, improved to 18-4 overall and 5-2 in the ACC. The Tigers dropped to 17-4 overall and 5-2 in ACC play.

Chris Okey’s fourth homer of the year in the first inning gave Clemson the early advantage, but the Hurricanes had six straight batters reach base with one out in the fourth inning and scored five runs on five hits and two costly Tiger errors. Miami added two runs in the sixth inning to build a 7-2 lead.

Clemson clawed back with three runs in the seventh inning and Chase Pinder belted his sixth homer of the year in the eighth inning to narrow Miami’s lead to 7-6. Seth Beer hit a one-out double in the top of the ninth inning to extend his hitting streak to 19 games. Weston Wilson walked and stole second before Wharton grounded a two-out, two-run single through the left side to give the Tigers an 8-7 lead. But Johnny Ruiz led off the bottom of the ninth inning with a double. Two batters later with one out, Abreu crushed an opposite-field, two-run homer to snap Clemson’s eight game-winning streak.

Bryan Garcia (2-0) earned the win despite allowing three runs on three hits in two innings pitched. Alex Bostic (3-1) suffered the loss. Alex Schnell kept the Tigers in the game with 2  2/3 scoreless innings of one-hit ball in relief.

This story was originally published March 26, 2016 at 6:50 PM with the headline "Baseball: Gamecocks cap sweep of Rebels."