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COLUMBIA (WACH) - The No. 2 Gamecocks beat The College of Charleston 8-3 on Tuesday night at Patriots Point.

The win improves South Carolina to 29-7 on the year while the loss drops C of C to 23-15 for the season.

The defending national champions put together a four-run seventh inning that included an ejection of College of Charleston's Assistant Coach Matt Heath.

Charleston went ahead 1-0 in the bottom of the first inning when Rob Kral’s RBI double scored Cole Rakar.

The Gamecocks responded in the top of the second when Robert Beary drove a two-run single to left field scoring Greg Brodzinski. Jackie Bradley Jr. added a two-out RBI single to score Peter Mooney to give South Carolina a 3-1 lead.

Charleston tied the game 3-3 in the bottom of the second inning.

South Carolina gained a one run lead in the top of the fourth inning when Scott Wingo drove in Evan Marzilli with a two-out RBI base hit to right field. The single extended Wingo’s hitting streak to 13 games.

In the seventh inning Adrian Morales knocked a base hit by shortstop Jamie Holler to score both Christian Walker and Wingo, giving the Gamecocks a 6-3 lead.

After the play - Charleston head coach Monte Lee wanted interference called on Christian Walker. Lee argued his point with the umpires but to no avail. After Lee was finished, Charleston assistant coach Matt Heath stormed the field. Heath bumped chests with one of the umpires and was ejected from the game.

His actions resulted in a one game suspension.

The Gamecocks return to action this weekend when they travel to Starkville, Mississippi for a three-game series with the Mississippi State Bulldogs.

Friday’s series opener is at 8 p.m. ET and will be televised on ESPNU.  Saturday’s game will also be televised with first pitch at 7 p.m. ET on SportSouth. 

The series finale is at 2:30 p.m. ET.  All three games can also be heard on the Gamecock Radio Network.