COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina's Reid Morgan struck out nine and didn't walk a batter en route to leading the SEC Gamecocks to a series sweep over Utah Valley with a 10-3 victory on Sunday afternoon at Founders Park. 
 
With the setback, the Wolverines drop to 1-5 on the young season while USC improves to 6-1 with the win. 
 
The Gamecock offense combined to slug out five home runs and 12 total hits in the ballgame, while UVU's offense was limited to just five hits. Chris Cullen led the way for South Carolina by going 2-for-3 with two home runs and five RBIs while Andrew Eyster followed with a 3-for-4 outing with a homer, a double, an RBI and a run scored.
 
Following a leadoff second-inning double from Jacob Olson, USC then got on the board with a two-run homer off the bat of Cullen to take a 2-0 lead. The Gamecocks then loaded the bases with two outs in the third and plated two more runs thanks to a two-run single from Brady Allen to extend their lead to 4-0.
 
The Wolverines then got a run back in the top of the fifth to make it 4-1. Following a leadoff double from Alexander Marco and a groundout from Mick Madsen to advance the runner to third, Marco then come home on an RBI groundout from Jake Berry to pull UVU within three on the scoreboard. 
 
South Carolina then quickly countered back with three more runs in the last of the fifth on a three-run homer from Cullen to extend its advantage to 7-1. Utah Valley then answered with two runs in the top of the sixth to make it a 7-3 contest. Kody Hall started the inning with a leadoff single and later came around to score following a throwing miscue from the Gamecocks to make it 7-2. UVU then made it 7-3 on a two-out RBI single from Drew Sims to plate Estrada. 
 
The Gamecocks then put the game out of reach with a solo home run from Saturday's hero Noah Campbell in the bottom of the sixth and solo homers from Allen and Eyster in the seventh. 
 
USC's starter Morgan (1-0) earned the win after going 8.0 full innings and giving up just six hits and one earned run while striking out nine. UVU's Walker Ramsey (0-2) was tagged with the loss after allowing six runs on six hits in 4.2 innings of work. Freshman Logan Petet did a nice job for the Wolverines late in the game out of the bullpen by surrendering just one hit and no runs while striking out one in the final inning and a third. 
 
Marco led UVU at the plate on Sunday by going 2-for-4 with a double and a run scored. Sims and Berry both drove home runs in the game for the Wolverines. 
 
UVU had a chance to take game two of the series on Saturday thanks to a brilliant seven-inning outing from starter Paxton Schultz in which he struck out a career high 11 and did not walk a batter and a go-ahead RBI double from Marco in the top of the ninth. But in the end USC Preseason All-America candidate Campbell helped the Gamecocks pull out Saturday's contest with a two-strike, two-out walk-off home run to propel South Carolina to a 6-5 victory. 
 
The series marked UVU's first all-time series against South Carolina and just its second in program history against an opponent from the SEC. 
 
The Wolverines will now return to the West Coast for a four-game non-conference series in Northern California at UC Davis next weekend (March 1-3). Following the series, UVU will then return to Utah for a midweek contest at neighboring rival BYU on Tuesday, March 5, before hosting Saint Mary's for its home-opening series on March 8-10 at UCCU Ballpark.