RALEIGH, N.C. — Through the first five innings Friday, South Carolina starting pitcher Sam Dyson was on cruise control.

By the time he felt the sting of the Charlotte 49er bats, his teammates had already spotted him nine runs.

Fortunately for Dyson, giving up a combined seven runs in the sixth and seventh innings wasn’t enough to derail the Gamecocks as USC (39-21) posted a 15-8 victory over Charlotte (43-15) in the opening game at the Raleigh Regional in the NCAA tournament.

“I think I pitched pretty well through five,” said Dyson, who recorded the win to go 8-0. “Toward the end, I was leaving some balls up out over the plate and they were taking advantage of it.”

USC first baseman Justin Smoak went 4-for-4, scored three times, drove in three runs and walked twice to help the Gamecocks advance to the winner’s bracket, where they’ll face the N.C. State-James Madison winner today at 7 p.m.

DeAngelo Mack and James Darnell each hit three-run homers for a USC team that collected 18 hits in the win.

Down 9-2, Charlotte’s rally picked up steam after a two-run home run by Alan Parks cut the lead to five.

After USC picked up a run in the bottom of the sixth, USC coach Ray Tanner opted to leave Dyson on the mound. Charlotte third baseman Aaron Bray’s three-run home run with two outs almost backfired on Tanner’s decision.

“Dyson’s pitch count was reasonable,” Tanner said. “He had a tough (sixth) inning, but I really wanted him to go back out there and close that next inning out. He said he wanted to go back and he made a mistake there with a two-strike pitch on the homer to right.”

“But, he gave us a quality start.”

Tanner turned it over to reliever and former starter Mike Cisco, who gave up only one run on three hits the rest of the way.

The offense helped out Cisco by scoring five runs in the eighth behind Darnell’s three-run shot over the left-field wall.

USC’s nine-run explosion in four innings started in the first with an RBI single by Smoak and Mack’s home run that gave the Gamecocks an early 4-0 lead.

Shortstop Reese Havens and Smoak added RBI singles in the second, and DH Parker Bangs, who went 3-for-6, helped spark a three-run fourth with an RBI single.

“I thought we had some great at bats early,” Tanner said. “We were agressive, we were attacking early and that was good to see.”