Phil Disher wasn’t sure his second home run of Saturday’s game had the distance.

He might have been the only one in Plainsman Park with any doubt.

Disher’s eighth-inning home run gave No. 15 South Carolina the lead for good Saturday.

It was part of a big finish that handed the Gamecocks an 8-6 win and a series victory against Auburn. It’s Auburn’s first Southeastern Conference series loss since mid-March.

Disher was a big part of Saturday’s win for USC. He broke up Auburn starter Cory Luckie’s shutout bid with a solo homer in the fifth — a line drive off the batter’s eye in straightaway center field — and gave USC its first lead with a two-run shot in the eighth off reliever Taylor Thompson.

The eighth-inning homer easily cleared the 30-foot wall in left field, but Disher said he felt he didn’t make good contact.

“I didn’t think I hit it well enough to get it over that big wall over there, but I looked up and it was gone,” he said. “I guess I got lucky on that pitch.

“That’s a big wall out there.”

Auburn led, 5-3, when Thompson (3-2) replaced Luckie to start the seventh inning.

Thompson gave up a solo homer to Parker Bangs to start the seventh, then retired the next five batters he faced. But the sophomore ran into trouble with two outs in the eighth. He surrendered a single to James Darnell, then threw a 1-0 split-finger fastball to Disher, well above catcher Ryan Jenkins’ target.

Disher made him pay: His homer gave the Gamecocks a 6-5 lead.

Before Disher rounded third on his home-run trot, Jenkins was involved in a discussion with Thompson.

“(Jenkins) wasn’t real happy with the location,” Auburn coach Tom Slater said. “Disher’s swinging it good for them right now. He got every bit of that ball and smoked it.”

USC (24-10, 8-6 SEC) extended its lead to 8-5 in the top of the ninth.

Auburn (22-14, 6-8 SEC) posted a rally in the bottom of the ninth, but fell just short.

With two on and two out in the ninth, Trent Mummey cut the lead to 8-6 with an RBI single. But Bangs — who moved from DH to pitcher in the eighth — struck out Matt Hall with a 3-2 breaking ball to end the game and pick up his first save.

The series concludes today at 2 p.m. Freshman right-hander Bradley Hendrix (1-0, 4.95 ERA) will start for Auburn against USC right-hander Blake Cooper (3-3, 3.32).

| 737-2561