South Carolina moved into the championship round of the Greenville Regional with a 12-2 win over host East Carolina Saturday night at Clark-LeClair Stadium.
The Pirates, who beat Binghamton earlier Saturday, 11-7, in a first-round game postponed from Friday, meet Binghamton again at 2 p.m. Sunday, with the winner advancing to face the Gamecocks at 6 p.m. USC can advance to the Super Regionals with a win either Sunday or Monday night.
After its loss to East Carolina, Binghamton stayed alive by beating George Mason, 11-6, in an elimination game.
South Carolina 12, East Carolina 2
Justin Dalles and Adam Matthews each homered twice and Blake Cooper pitched a 14-hit complete game for the Gamecocks (40-21).
Dalles drove in seven runs with a two-run homer in the sixth, an infield single in the seventh and a grand slam in the eighth.
Matthews, who hit two home runs in the regular season, matched that with solo homers in the second and eighth innings. He also homered in the Southeastern Conference Tournament last week.
Cooper (9-4) frustrated East Carolina (43-18) by repeatedly working out of jams unscathed, including bases-loaded situations in the third, fourth and fifth innings.
Trailing 12-0, East Carolina finally broke through on Corey Thompson’s two-run homer in the eighth.
Binghamton 11, George Mason 6
Jim Calderone had three hits and scored twice as the Bearcats (30-21) eliminated George Mason (42-14).
Binghamton broke a 2-2 tie with a pair of runs in the fourth.
Winning pitcher Jeff Dennis (6-5) scattered nine hits and allowed only two unearned runs over five innings.
Dan Schaefferman was 4-for-5 and drove in four runs for George Mason.
East Carolina 11, Binghamton 7
In the makeup of Friday’s rainout, the Pirates did all their scoring in the first four innings.
Trent Whitehead homered on the first pitch of the bottom of the first to set the stage for East Carolina’s big early output.
Dustin Harrington homered and drove in three runs for East Carolina
Joe Charron homered twice, singled and drove in four runs for the Bearcats. Corey Smith also had three hits for Binghamton.
Reliever Bailey Daniels (2-2) allowed three hits and a run over four innings to get the win.
