James Hicks struck out six in 6.2 scoreless innings and the University of South Carolina baseball team belted out 12 hits in a 9-0 win over Georgia to open play in the Southeastern Conference Tournament Tuesday morning at the Hoover Met.
Hicks threw a season high 90 pitches, allowing just four hits and no runs with two walks and the six strikeouts. Cade Austin earned his second save of the year, striking out three in 2.1 innings in Carolina’s fifth shutout of the season.
Will Tippett had three hits, including a three-run triple in the seventh that made it 8-0, while Talmadge LeCroy, Evan Stone and Braylen Wimmer had two hits apiece.
Carolina scored a pair of runs in the second on Stone’s single to left. The Gamecocks plated three in the fourth, three in the seventh with Tippett’s triple and one in the eighth.
The performance marked the first win at the SEC Tournament since 2018 and it was career win #450 for head coach Mark Kingston.
He will try to record #451 Wednesday morning when the Gamecocks face LSU.
