Adam Matthews belted a solo home run to lead off the bottom of the eighth inning as fifth ranked South Carolina defeated Alabama 1-0 on Friday afternoon to complete game one of the series opener vs. the Crimson Tide.
Halted after seven innings on Thursday, it only took 18 minutes for the Gamecocks on Friday to earn the win and improve to 31-11 and 12-7 in the SEC. Alabama drops to 17-26 and 6-13 in league play.
On Thursday evening, the Gamecocks had been held hitless through seven innings of play. Carolina went with junior left-hander Tyler Webb to start Friday’s action in the eighth and he retired all three batters he faced.
That set the stage for Matthews, who launched the first pitch he saw from Alabama reliever Jon Keller over the wall in right field for his third home run of the season putting the Gamecocks ahead by a run. Junior right-hander Matt Price worked a perfect ninth inning to earn his fifth save of the year. Webb is now 4-0 on the season with the win while Keller falls to 1-3 for the year.
On Thursday, through the first seven innings, the game belonged all to South Carolina starting pitcher Michael Roth and Alabama starting pitcher Spencer Turnbull. Roth limited the Tide to just four hits in seven innings of work with two strikeouts and three walks. Turnbull hurled seven innings of no-hit ball while walking four and striking out five.
