The Sarge

FINAL: South Carolina defeats Florida 7-3 and will play Arkansas on Monday night at 9pm.

TOP 9 - Christian Walker up for the Gamecocks. He takes his base on a walk. Matthews bunts him up for Erik Payne. Wild pitch advances Walker to third, who then comes home on a wild pitch from Steven Rodriguez, who just threw his first pitch in relief. Payne goes down swinging. Dantzler reaches when his tapper back to the mound goes unfielded by Rodriguez. Error. English flashes his speed singling to deep short. Vergason comes up and rolls over one to first base. Ramjit makes the difficult part of the play fielding it to his right. The flip from his knees is off and the ball gets by Rodriguez, which allows another run to score. Greiner up. Count goes full against RHP Harris. He's fouling off pitches and trying to have a good at-bat after struggling big time tonight at the dish. He needs something to happen positively for him from a personal standpoint. He walks on a 10-pitch at-bat. That one has to feel good for him. Pankake grounds out to Fontana to end the inning. I'm gonna head downstairs to get out on the field for interviews after the game. I'll post the final score as I think this game is pretty much over... but ya never know, I guess. Either way, I still have to go downstairs. Gamecocks lead 7-3

BOTTOM 8 - Pigott leads off the inning with a line drive to left center. Marzilli has to be on SportsCenter tonight with his diving catch in left center. Completely horizontal and catches it in the webbing of his glove. Incredible. Turgeon goes down swinging on a pitch nearly over his head. Two down. Shafer up and is battling Price. He goes down looking at a slider strike to end the inning. Gamecocks lead 5-3.

TOP 8 - Greiner goes down looking, Pankake grounds out to short (beautiful sliding play), and Marzilli Ks. Quick inning for the Gators. Gamecocks lead 5-3.

BOTTOM 7 - Gators have 8-9-1 due up in the order. Webb and Price warming in the bullpen. Singles by Ramjit and Tobias lead off the inning and both runners are bunted up by lead off hitter Fontana. That'll end the day for Roth, who gives way to LHP Tyler Webb, who gets Tucker to fly out to shallow left on the first pitch. He intentinally walks Zunino to load the bases. Johnson up and he laces the first pitch from Webb, but it's right at Matthews, who makes the catch. Bullet = dodged. Gamecocks lead 5-3.

TOP 7 - Borderline call goes in favor of the Gators. Payne tries to check his swing on a pitch. Ball hits right near his hand and the knob of the bat and goes into fair territory. Payne thinks its an HBP, Blue thinks its a fair ball. Payne thrown out at first. Tanner argues but to no avail. Dantzler goes down on strikes for the second out of the inning. English drops a single to left field. He swipes second on the first pitch of the AB to Vergason. He pops up to third to end the inning. Gamecocks lead 5-3 at the stretch.

BOTTOM 6 - Pigott pops out lazily to center for the first out of the inning. Turgeon grounds harmlessly to Vergason. Two down. Roth feeling good. He has been known to get better as the game goes on because his changeup will get some added sink when his arm tires a little.Shafer pops out to center to end the inning. Gamecocks lead 5-3.

TOP 6 - Joey Pankake leads off the inning with a single to left off of Greg Larson, who was the reliever who came in after Johnson. Now LHP Poyner comes in to face Marzilli. He drops a bunt down towards third. Tobias makes the play. Walker up and O'Sullivan is headed back out to make another pitching change. RHP Keenan Kish entering. He gets Walker to ground out to short for the second out of the inning. Nice play by Fontana. Matthews hits one on the screws, but right at Fontana to end the inning. Gamecocks lead 5-3.

BOTTOM 5 - Gamecocks have to feel good about where they are right now with Roth on the mound and a three run lead. Remember, though, there are a lot of outs left to get. Tobias leads off the inning with a single and then Fontana is hit. Tucker hits a bouncer back up the middle. Shift is on. Pankake fields it on the second base side of the bag and fires to first for the out. Meyers comes out to chat with Roth with Zunino coming to the plate. They'll go after him, even though a big fly ties it up. Zunino hits one to left, but it's caught by English. It's deep enough to get one run home. Johnson grounds out to second to end the inning. Gamecocks lead 5-3

TOP 5 - Gamecocks put more runners on to lead off the inning. Marzilli doubles to the gap in right center and then moves to third on a sharp single to left by Walker. Runners at the corners with no one down for Matthews. A five-pitch walk to Matthews loads the bases. Erik Payne tattoos a pitch to right center that gets all the way to the wall. That clears the bases as Payne slides into third for his first triple of the season. Dantzler then comes up and smokes a pitch to straight away center. The ball hits the ground just before the track and goes for an RBI double. Man, oh man that was crushed. That'll end the day for Johnson, who gives up 4 earned runs on eight hits. English bunts Dantzler to third. One down. Gators infield comes in again with Vergason at the plate. He drops a soft single to center to score another run, but is thrown out trying to stretch it to two when Pigott misplays the ball in center. Greiner looks like he's missed three weeks with his first two at-bats. Goes down on strikes again, but the damage is done. Gamecocks lead 5-2

BOTTOM 4 - Pigott up and grounds to short. Pankake makes another smooth play out there. He's really come along as a fielder. He looks good out there. He's gotten progressively better. The first time I really thought "wow" was the LSU series. He's been great ever since. Turgeon bounces towards the right side. Not sure where Walker was going. Vergason makes the play and throws to Roth. Vergy slipped a bit and the throw was low and wide, but Roth channeled his inner first baseman again and makes a nice play with a stretch and pick. Two down. Shafer with a double inside the third base bag. That'll bring Ramjit up with two down. He Ks looking to end the inning.

TOP 4 - LB Dantzler begins the inning with a single. English with another quality at-bat going 11 pitches and then walking. He's seen 18 pitches in two at-bats. Pretty good. Needed that after the non-error error. Vergason up to the plate. He pushes a bunt up the third base line. Too close to Johnson though, who makes the play easily at third base to cut down the lead runner. Yeck. Ramjit was crashing hard from first base. Had to go up the third base line, but have to push it harder and clsoer to the line. Greiner pinch hits for Rosenberg and goes down looking at strike three. He'll stay in to catch. Joey Pankake with a line drive shot to center. Pigott gets a great read on it off the bat and catches up to it about 10 feet shy of the track. That was a great play by Pigott. Nice shot by Pankake. Can't ask for much more. Two left stranded. Again. Gators lead 2-0.

BOTTOM 3 - Shafer and Ramjit, the seven and eight hole hitters in the order, begin the inning with singles. Tobias, the nine-hole hitter, up and looking to bunt. Tobias pops up his bunt a little bit and Roth makes a diving play on it on the first base side of the mound. He was All-SEC defensive team. Vergason makes a great defensive play diving up the middle on a ground ball. Flips it to Pankake for the force out. That puts runners at the corners for the dangerous Tucker, who hits a line drive right at English in left. English comes charging in two or three steps but then realizes he needed to go back on the ball. He couldn't catch up to it and it gets over his head to the wall. That's a stand up double and a really tough break for Roth and the Gamecocks. Two great defensive plays and then a miscue. Zunino is put on base intentionally. Creates a force at any base with Johnson up. He taps back to the mound to end the inning. Gators lead 2-0

TOP 3 - Evan Marzilli ropes a first pitch breaking ball from Johnson off the top of the RF wall. Stand up double. He moves to third on a deep fly ball to center by Christian Walker, which brings the Gators' infield in to try to cut off the run with only one out. Johnson gets Matthews swinging with a fastball. Payne flies out to center on the first pitch of his at-bat. Despite the double, it was just a six-pitch inning for Johnson. No score.

BOTTOM 2 - Roth Ks Johnson on a pitch in the dirt. Rosenberg keeps it close and throws over to Walker at first for the out. One down. Pigott works a six-pitch walk. He, however, is gunned down trying to take second on a pitch in the dirt. Nice play by Rosenberg. Bang-bang play. Turgeon taps one back to the mound. Roth makes the play. Still no score.

TOP 2 - Good at-bat by Tanner English, who makes Johnson throw eight pitches. He eventually flies out to left center. Got underneath it just a bit. One down. Positive at-bat though. Rosenberg asked to bunt the runner up. Pankake up now with two outs. Goes ahead in the count 2-1. He flies out to right center to end the inning. No score.

BOTTOM 1 - Michael Roth back out to the mound. Last career start? Probably not. Gamecocks would have to go two-and-Q for that to happen. But it could be, I guess. He walks Fontanta to begin the inning. Preston Tucker hitting second - I don't know how many times that has happened this season. Gamecocks run the shift out there on him and Tucker rolls into the seldom-seen 5-6-3 double play. Roth then Ks Zunino looking to end the inning. No score.

TOP 1 - Brian Johnson out to the mound for the Gators. Yall should know the scouting report on him by now. Power arm, challenges you with fastballs and basically just says, "I think I'm better than you. Try to hit it." Joey Pankake comes up and is a little bit more patient than the team was the last time they faced Johnson. Goes five pitches before striking out. Marzilli hits a sharp grounder up the first base line. Ball gobbles up Ramjit and trickles into shallow right. Ruled an E3. Borderline. I'm fine with it. Walker then bounces one through the right side to put two on with one out for Adam Matthews. He's playing his first significant role in the CWS. Goes behind in the count 1-2 after fouling a fastball back towards the USC section. Matthews works the count back to full against Johnson. Matthews goes down swinging but both runners stole and are at second and third with one out. Zunino couldn't figure out where he wanted to throw the baseball, so he held on. Payne ahead 2-0 in the count on Johnson. The Gators pinch around Payne to load the bases and bring up the lefty. Dantzler makes UF coach Kevin O'Sullivan look smart by going down on four pitches to end the inning. No score.

Carolina

SS - Joey Pankake
CF - Evan Marzilli
1B - Christian Walker
RF - Adam Matthews
DH - Erik Payne
3B - LB Dantzler
LF - Tanner English
2B - Chase Vergason
C - Dante Rosenberg

LHP Michael Roth

Florida

SS - Nolan Fontana
RF - Preston Tucker
C - Mike Zunino
P - Brian Johnson
CF - Daniel Pigott
2B - Casey Turgeon
LF - Justin Shafer
1B - Vickash Ramjit
3B - Josh Tobias

LHP Brian Johnson

South Carolina and Florida are a couple hours away from taking the field at TD Ameritrade Park Omaha. Hopefully you've been following all of our coverage leading up to tonight's game. If not, check a few pushpins down and visit the Postseason Central topic and catch yourself up.

The team arrived to the stadium about 20 minutes ago. They're taking batting practice down in the indoor tunnels. There's no word on the starting lineup yet. That should come out about 45 minutes or so before the start of the game. Based on what I was told yesterday at practice, I believe that Dante Rosenberg will start tonight at catcher. No guarantee, but that was the feeling that I got yesterday. Certainly could have changed over the last 24 hours.

Stay tuned here to this thread for updates as the night goes along. Also, please be sure to visit our loyal sponsor - The Eye Center - for all your eye care needs. They can do it all.

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