It took 13 innings and nearly five hours, but the College of Charleston baseball team fought off second-ranked South Carolina, 6-5, on Tuesday at Founders Park in Columbia for its sixth straight win.
It is the second time The College has defeated the No. 2 team in the country. CofC beat No. 2 South Carolina at Joseph P. Riley, Jr. Park in Charleston on March 6, 2007.
In front of 8,242 fans, College of Charleston (18-7) led the game twice prior to the 13th inning, but were unable to fend off the Gamecocks. With CofC up 4-2 in the ninth, South Carolina (23-3) scored twice to send the game to extra innings. The tying run scored on a ground-rule double with two outs.
Morgan Phillips gave the Cougars a 5-4 advantage in the 12th with a solo home run to left, his fourth long ball of the season. South Carolina again scratched out a run with two outs in the bottom half of the inning courtesy of a fielding error. Then the College’s Luke Manzo drove in Alex Pastorius, the eventual game winning run, on a groundout in the 13th inning.
“It says a lot about this team that they were able to bounce back several times and eventually win the game,” Cougars head coach Matt Heath said. “We had a few mistakes that could have cost us, but our guys hung in there and battled.”
