There were even more fireworks in the second game between South Carolina and Florida, but this time they were a little more positive as the Gamecock offense lit up early and often to get the 15-7 win and the team's first win of conference play. The 15 runs tied the season-high runs scored and the Gamecocks set a new season-high with 16 hits. This was the most runs South Carolina has scored in an SEC game since 2013.
The Gamecocks scored just three runs in Friday's contest, but scored that many in the first inning of Saturday's game to take an early lead. Noah Campbell showed his speed with a triple that bounced off the right field wall and tried to stretch it to an inside the park home run. He was initially tagged out but upon further review, they ruled Campbell safe. This was South Carolina's first inside the park home run since 2009 by Whit Merrifield.
The top four of the lineup once again did what they do best, as TJ Hopkins got on base with a single and Madison Stokes followed with his fifth home run of the season, a two-run blast to right field, giving the Gamecocks an early 3-0 lead.
The Gamecocks went quiet for a while but found their offense again in a big way in the fifth. South Carolina had bases loaded with two outs but that's when the sparks started flying. LT Tolbert hit an RBI single, then Jonah Bride worked a full count to his advantage and hit a two-run ground rule double to center. Matt Williams followed with a two-RBI single to give the Gamecocks a 9-2 lead through six innings.
With that top four of the lineup being so consistent lately, the middle to bottom of the lineup found their stride and contributed in Saturday's win. Tolbert, Bride, Williams and Hunter Taylor had 10 RBIs total on the night and were controlled at the plate. Kingston said that them staying focused is what paid off for them at the plate.
"Just quality at-bats. At the end of the day, it's a game of pitcher versus hitter and we just took a lot of really good at-bats," Kingston said. "When we got in hitters counts, we got really good swings off to drive the ball. And then if we got to two strikes, our guys really battled hard and that's what you need to do in this league."
The Gators got a few back in the seventh off of two home runs but the Gamecocks were able to answer in the eighth. Hopkins and Justin Row hit consecutive singles to open the inning, then Tolbert came home off of a sac fly. Just as he did earlier, Bride hit another huge two-RBI double, and he would finish the night with three doubles. A few batters later, Hunter Taylor and Jacob Olson launched back-to-back home runs to the same spot in the left field bleachers to give South Carolina a comfortable 15-6 lead.
Bride, who's now hitting .304 on the season, set a new single game career-high in doubles with the three he hit on Saturday. After the game, both he and Kingston credited the crowd for being so loud and electric and helping throw off the Gators.
"I just talked to someone about that actually, one of the guys said he felt like he was in a movie and standing in the blocks, that was really awesome," Bride said. "You could just feel it, that buzz is awesome to play in front of and being able to come through, it was indescribable."
Cody Morris picked up his fourth win of the season and had a dominant showing against a very powerful offense. He gave up just two runs on four hits over 5.1 innings of work, but struck out 10 and only walked one batter. His 10 strikeouts set a new career-high for the sophomore. Kingston said after the game that it was one of the best games he's seen Morris throw.
"I thought Cody Morris was the best I've ever seen him in terms of the fastball command, the fastball velocity and then his breaking ball and changeup for strikes, as much as I've ever seen him," Kingston said. "So to me, that was the key to the ballgame is him setting the tone, 10 strikeouts and one walk."
After Morris was taken out, the Gamecock pitching struggled. Kingston used five pitchers from the bullpen to try and seal the win, but John Gilreath and Carmen Mlodzinski had the most trouble. The two gave up four runs off of four hits combined and Mlodzinski had one strikeout. South Carolina used Eddy Demurias, who started game three of the last series, for less than an inning, but Kingston said Sunday's starter will be determined once they get to the ballpark and see how everyone feels.
The rubber match between South Carolina and Florida is Sunday at 1 p.m., and the Gamecocks will look to win their first SEC series since the Alabama series March 24-26 of last season.