South Carolina walks off James Madison, wins NCAA baseball opener with dramatic finish

First it was Cole Messina with the heroics. Then it was Will Tippett.

Tippett’s sacrifice fly in the 10th inning gave No. 2 seed South Carolina an improbable 8-7 walk-off victory over James Madison on Friday afternoon at Doak Field at Dail Park. Pinch-runner Dylan Brewer scored the winning run.

Messina forced the extra innings with two outs in the ninth. Messina, who intentionally walked twice and walked a total of three times, homered with the Gamecocks trailing 7-5 and Blake Jackson on first after Jackson had been hit by a pitch. That saved USC from its first opening-game loss in the NCAA Tournament since 2016.

South Carolina (37-23) advances to Saturday’s 6 p.m. winner’s bracket contest against No. 1 seed N.C. State. The Dukes will play Rider in an elimination game at noon Saturday.

“That was one of those games for the ages,” South Carolina coach Mark Kingston said. “Games look like they probably will not go your way and you just find a way. That’s a credit to the guys here to my right and a lot of others in that dugout.”

It was a game that looked like it wouldn’t end up in the Gamecocks’ favor.

South Carolina won despite committing four errors, a couple of other plays that should have been made and a couple of base-running blunders where USC players were picked off. The team has committed 16 errors in the last six games.

But none of that mattered when Messina continued his late-season heroics. He set an SEC Tournament record last week with 16 RBIs and walked three times Friday before his first-pitch blast to left field in the ninth.

“I just had to stay in the moment and be ready to hit no matter what,” Messina said. “I’m not a fortune teller and I can’t pick and choose when they walk me. So I just had to stay locked in and stay focused and took a good swing.”

James Madison coach Marlin Ikenberry said it was a Catch-22 on the decision to pitch to Messina in the ninth. Closer Joe Vogatsky hit Jackson on a 1-2 pitch and led to a mound visit. Messina, who now has 21 home runs, quickly deposited his first offering into the left-field bullpen.

“That’s a tough one. I thought we outplayed them. You talk about getting 27 outs and we got 26,” Ikenberry said. “You don’t want to walk the tying run. But tip your cap to him. Our best against their best and they got it.”

Kingston agreed that was a tough decision.

“That’s a really hard decision for a manager or pitching coach to make there,” he said. “If you put him on, then you have the winning run at the plate and that would be a bitter pill to swallow, too.”

An error in the 10th inning by JMU, the only of the day for the Dukes, set the stage for the winning run to score. USC’s Kennedy Jones, who had three hits on Friday, singled to open the inning. After a strikeout, Talmadge LeCroy placed a nice bunt that Vogatsky fielded but threw into right field, putting runners at second and third with one out.

Brewer came in as a pinch-runner for Jones, and he easily scored on Tippett’s deep fly ball to center field.

None of those late-game plays might have mattered if not for the efforts of Chris Veach out of the bullpen. He was shaky to start but settled in to pitch 4.2 innings and allow just two runs on four hits with four strikeouts and three walks.

He didn’t allow a run after James Madison (34-24) scored three in the sixth inning to take a 7-4 lead.

“I thought it was an OK outing,” Veach said. “I gave up some duck hits, but other than that I thought I threw well. I kept us in the game, and we slowly and slowly crept back.”

Tippett and Jones hit solo home runs and Jackson added a two-run shot as the Gamecocks hit four long balls on the day.

Ethan Petry update

South Carolina first baseman Ethan Petry was hit by a pitch on his left hand in the third inning and twice had to have the trainer come and look at him. The first time was after he was hit, and the other was after a big swing in the fifth inning.

Petry was icing his hand when he was in the dugout, but he played the entire game.

“He got hit over the pinky, so he should be fine,” Kingston said after the game. “I feel like all year I’ve told you guys somebody would be fine, then the next day we wake up and something is on the injury report I wasn’t expecting to see. All indications are that he will be fine.”

Raleigh Regional scores, schedule

Friday’s games

South Carolina 8, James Madison 7 (10 inn.)

N.C. State 9, Bryant 2

Saturday’s games

Elimination game: James Madison vs. Rider, noon (streaming on ESPN+)

Winner’s bracket game: South Carolina vs. N.C. State 6 p.m. (streaming on ESPN+)

Sunday’s games

Elimination game, noon (TV TBD, streaming on ESPN+)

Winner’s bracket game, 6 p.m. (TV TBD, streaming on ESPN+)

Monday’s game

If necessary, TBD (TV TBD, streaming on ESPN+)