The Gamecock baseball team clinched its second straight series of the year by defeating Utah Valley for a third consecutive time with a score of 10-3 on Sunday at Founders Park.
The Gamecocks’ third win over the Wolverines was partly due to starting junior right-handed pitcher Reid Morgan, who struck out nine batters through eight full innings of pitching.
“Eight innings, less than 100 pitches, that’s outstanding,” Gamecocks head coach Mark Kingston said. “He commanded the bottom of the zone with multiple pitches and stayed ahead of hitters all day.”
It did not take long for Morgan to strike out batters, as he struck out two in his first two innings. This allowed South Carolina to take the lead in the bottom of the second as Gamecock senior catcher Chris Cullen hit a two-run homer to right-center field to give the Gamecocks an early 2-0 lead.
Cullen was able to hit a three-run home run to center field in the fifth inning after freshman outfielder Brady Allen hit a two-RBI single in the third inning to left to bring in junior designated hitter Quinntin Perez and redshirt sophomore catcher Luke Berryhill from second.
The Wolverines responded in the sixth inning by notching their second and third runs in the game as Utah Valley senior infielder Kody Hall took advantage of a throwing error by the Gamecocks, and senior infielder Paul Estrada scored from second after a hit to right-center field by sophomore catcher Drew Sims.
The Gamecocks responded in the sixth and seventh innings when sophomore infielder Noah Campbell hit a solo homer to right-center field to lead off the sixth. Freshman outfielder Brady Allen and sophomore outfielder Andrew Eyster hit solo homers to right-center and left-center field respectively.
“[Allen] is a great hitter,” Cullen said. “Brady’s young and he’s shown a lot of great things so far over the season which is great to see and it's promising to see.”
South Carolina cruised the rest of the way to a 10-3 win over Utah Valley on 12 hits as opposed to the Wolverines’ six hits.
South Carolina will be back in action on Tuesday afternoon against the Appalachian State Mountaineers. First pitch is set for 4 p.m. at Founders Park.