The South Carolina Gamecocks just know how to get it done in the College World Series. Their 7-1 victory over the No. 1 overall seed Virginia Cavaliers Wednesday night was the 13th consecutive win in Omaha for the defending national champions.
The Gamecocks have put themselves in fantastic position to play in the championship series that begins on Monday. They'll need just one more win to get there and Virginia now has the difficult task of winning three elimination games in a row to get to that same series. That would include beating South Carolina twice. It's not impossible but looks very improbable right now.
South Carolina got off to a hot start by scoring three runs in the top of the first inning off Virginia starter, Will Roberts, all with two outs. Roberts was a fifth round pick by the Cleveland Indians in this past draft. He came into the game with a 11-2 record, but 3.1 innings, eight hits, six runs (three earned) later, he found himself with an 11-3 record.
Jackie Bradley Jr. got the Gamecocks on the board first with a RBI-double that scored Christian Walker, who had reached on an error by the Virginia third baseman Steve Proscia. Adrian Morales and Brady Thomas then had RBI hits to get the Gamecocks the 3-0 lead after one inning.
Colby Holmes had a good start for the Gamecocks as he went just 4.1 innings but allowed only one run on four hits, while striking out seven. John Taylor threw the next 4.1 innings for South Carolina and allowed only one hit and one walk.
This game was all about the offense for South Carolina. It was also a complete team effort as the 3-4-5-6 hitters for South Carolina, Christian Walker (2-5 2RBI 1R), Jackie Bradley Jr. (2-5 1RBI, 1R), Adrian Morales (3-5 1RBI 2R), and Brady Thomas (3-4 1RBI) combined to go 10-19 with 5 RBI's and 4 runs.
When you get the middle of your order hitting .526 you will find your team being pretty successful. That's exactly what South Carolina has been so far and if they keep this up they're going to be tough to beat.