The South Carolina baseball team secured its second SEC win of the season as they defeated the No. 15 Auburn Tigers (21-6, 5-3 SEC) by a score of 4-0 at Founders Park on Saturday afternoon.
Starting junior right-handed pitcher for the Gamecocks (17-10, 2-6 SEC) Reid Morgan finished his day with no earned runs and four strikeouts through seven innings of work.
“Same thing you see about every time he pitches,” head coach Mark Kingston said. “Command the ball pitches, poise, competitiveness, let his defense play, it’s amazing our defense generally plays pretty well behind him because he works quick and throws strikes.”
During his time on the mound, Morgan forced Auburn into three 1-2-3 innings early in the game including in the second inning which allowed the Gamecocks to get on the scoreboard first. Freshman outfielder Ian Jenkins sent a solo shot into the left-field bullpen for his fourth homer of the season in the bottom half of the frame.
“The main thing is I just want to control what I can control and make sure I saw the ball deep,” Jenkins said. “I took a hack at it and good things happened for me.”
Morgan came up with clutch pitching in crucial situations for South Carolina, including in the fourth inning when the Tigers had a runner on third with one out before Morgan struck out and forced a fly out on the next two batters.
The South Carolina bats came alive in the sixth inning as Jenkins hit one to Tigers pitcher Elliott Anderson before overthrowing his first baseman. This allowed senior third baseman Jacob Olson and redshirt sophomore catcher Luke Berryhill to score from second and third.
Freshman outfielder Brady Allen then stole home on a passed ball from Anderson to increase the South Carolina lead to 4-0.
After the seventh inning, relieving pitcher Brett Kerry came in to finish off the Tigers as the freshman right-hander finished his day with two strikeouts and only allowed one hit through two innings of work on the way to the 4-0 win over Auburn.
The Gamecocks will look to achieve their first SEC series win on Sunday as they will face Auburn in a rubber match at Founders Park. First pitch is set for noon and can be seen on the SEC Network.
“We’re family, I mean we stick together through the ups and downs,” Morgan said. “And I know that anytime that we’re struggling, everybody is going to have each others backs.”