South Carolina went on the road for the first time this season to face the Citadel, earning a 6-3 win behind freshman Adam Hill.
Hill followed up his sensational college debut with another very strong outing. Hill worked five scoreless innings while striking out eight batters. Through his first two starts, he has not allowed an earned run and has posted a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 19-2. The Gamecocks were ahead 5-0 when Hill left the mound.
Despite their struggles against Hill, the Citadel did find success against reliever Tyler Johnson. Johnson opened the inning with a strikeout, but then proceeded to load the bases for Citadel first baseman Drew Ellis. Ellis cleared the bases with a double to left field to put the Bulldogs in striking distance.
Sophomore Brandon Murray came in for Johnson to put out the fire, managing to retire six consecutive batters to secure the Gamecock's lead.
South Carolina continued to get on base at a high rate, but for the first time this season they struggled to convert those base runners into runs scored. Despite racking up 15 hits, the Gamecocks scored just 6 runs and stranded 16 men on base.
Junior Dom Thompson-Williams excelled in the leadoff role, going 3-5 with a walk and a stolen base. John Jones, Alex Destino, Chris Cullen and Danny Blair also had multi-hit games.
With the win the Gamecocks are a perfect 9-0, but above all else this game was about getting their timing down before a huge weekend series with Clemson. Despite their undefeated start, some national pundits have been hesitant to move South Carolina too far up their rankings due to the relatively soft schedule that they have faced. A key series win against a quality opponent like Clemson could go a long way towards eliminating those concerns. The series begins at home on Friday before the teams play on a neutral site at Fluor Field in Greenville on Saturday. The series finale will be at Clemson on Sunday.