BATON ROUGE — South Carolina launched four home runs to highlight an 18-hit attack Saturday as the fifth-ranked Gamecocks defeated No. 15 LSU, 18-4, in Alex Box Stadium.
The win clinched a series victory for the Gamecocks, who improved to 25-3 overall and 7-1 in SEC play. South Carolina defeated LSU, 12-2, on Friday night in Game 1.
LSU fell to 20-9 overall and 2-6 in the league with Saturday’s loss.
“We have been getting beat by a better ball club right now, and our guys are hurting,” said LSU coach Smoke Laval. “South Carolina is good, and they have been playing at their best right now. It’s going to be a little while before we get better. We have to fight through it and react in a positive manner.”
Left fielder Cheyne Hurst, center fielder Michael Campbell and designated hitter Robbie Grinestaff each contributed three RBI to lead the South Carolina offense.
USC starter Mike Cisco (4-0) took advantage of the run support by limiting LSU to two runs on three hits in seven innings with two walks and one strikeout.
South Carolina grabbed a 2-0 lead in the second inning on a two-run homer by first baseman Justin Smoak off of LSU starting pitcher Clay Dirks (3-3). The Gamecocks extended the margin to 6-0 in the fourth as catcher Trent Kline belted a two-run homer and Hurst delivered a two-run double.
LSU narrowed the game to 6-2 on a solo homer by second baseman J.T. Wise in the fourth and an RBI double by catcher Matt Liuzza in the fifth.
However, South Carolina put the game out of reach in the sixth with a four-run uprising. Hurst lined an RBI single before Campbell lifted a three-run homer off of reliever Darryl Shaffer to give the Gamecocks a 10-2 advantage.
Dirks was charged with the loss as he surrendered eight runs (six earned) on nine hits in 5.1 innings with one walk and three strikeouts.
LSU right fielder Quinn Stewart‘s two-run homer in the ninth inning, his 12th of the season, accounted for the final margin. The homer was Stewart’s 11th dinger in his last 18 games.
South Carolina 18, LSU 4 (Apr 01, 2006 at Baton Rouge, La.)
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South Carolina…… 020 404 215 – 18 18 0 (25-3, 7-1 SEC)
LSU………………… 000 110 002 – 4 5 2 (20-9, 2-6 SEC)
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Pitchers: South Carolina – Cisco; Lambert(8). LSU – Dirks; Shaffer(6); Byrd(7); Cain(9).
Win-Cisco(4-0) Loss-Dirks(3-3) T-2:46 A-7461
HR SCAL – Campbell (2); Grinestaff (9); Smoak (5); Kline (3).
HR LSU – Wise (4); Stewart (12).
Byrd faced 2 batters in the 9th.