Gamecocks top Georgia Southern Wednesday night

COLUMBIA, South Carolina –Freshman pitcher Kelsey Oh set the tone for the night, striking out the side in nine pitches to open the game as No. 11 South Carolina earned a 5-2 victory over Georgia Southern on Wednesday night at Carolina Softball Stadium. Oh didn’t allow a base runner through four innings until the Eagles poked a two-out single in the top of the fifth.

While Oh set the tone in the circle, Alyssa VanDerveer carried the Gamecocks at the plate early with a three-run blast in the bottom of the first to give Carolina a 3-0 lead it wouldn’t surrender.

With the win, the Gamecocks improved to 31-6 (6-3 SEC) on the season and 16-0 at home.

South Carolina (31-6) couldn’t have asked for a much better start out of Oh as she struck out the side in the first before VanDerveer’s three-run homer in the bottom frame to jump out to a 3-0 lead.

Carolina continued its scoring in the bottom of the fifth as Kenzi Maguire tripled to score Tiara Duffy to make it 4-0. Mackenzie Boesel later brought home Maguire with a groundout to make it 5-0.

Georgia Southern later homered in the top of the sixth to make it 5-2 but Oh shut the Eagles down the remaining four outs to earn the victory.

Oh (10-2) went the distance, allowing just five balls to leave the infield and three total hits.

Maguire led the way at the plate going 3-for-4 with two runs and an RBI. VanDerveer also shined going 1-for-3 with a three-run home run.

USC Athletics contributed to the writing of this article.