April 20, 2009
Columbia, S.C. – South Carolina (26-14) heads to Spartanburg on Tuesday night for a non-conference tilt at USC Upstate (10-27). First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m. at Harley Park. This will be the first time in South Carolina history that the Gamecocks will face USC Upstate in Spartanburg. The two schools met in 2008 for the first time with Carolina earning a 14-4 victory over the Spartans. South Carolina will also face USC Upstate on May 12 at Carolina Stadium. Live audio broadcast and live gametracker stats will be available at GamecocksOnline.com.
PITCHING ROTATION
Tuesday
South Carolina – Jay Brown (RHP, Sr.) – 2-0, 2.70 ERA, 26.2 IP, 13 BB, 20 K
USC Upstate – Austin Moyer (RHP, Fr.) – 2-4, 8.54 ERA, 32.2 IP, 23 BB, 19 K
Wednesday
South Carolina – Adam Westmoreland (LHP, Fr.) – 3-1, 4.65 ERA, 31.0 IP, 24 BB, 31 K
Clemson – TBA
QUICK RECAP
South Carolina went 3-2 on the week splitting a pair of midweek games with a win vs. College of Charleston and a loss to The Citadel and winning two of three games vs. Auburn in a weekend series … Carolina is now 26-14 on the year and 9-9 in the SEC … The Gamecocks are third in the SEC East and seventh place overall … Carolina travels to USC Upstate on Tuesday night, hosts Clemson on Wednesday and will play a three-game series in Florida this weekend … Saturday’s game vs. the Gators will be televised live on SEC-TV/FSN South.
DYSON
South Carolina sophomore right-hander Sam Dyson pitched his first career complete game in 8-3 win over Auburn that helped Carolina to series victory over the Tigers … He retired the last nine batters he faced from the seventh to the ninth inning with five retired by strikeout … He also tied a career-high and set a season-high with eight strikeouts in the win … Dyson is 6-2 on the year with a 4.87 ERA … He has 54 strikeout sin 57.1 innings … Opponents are batting just .217 against him.
DALLES
Sunday’s game-clinching win featured a multi-homer game from catcher Justin Dalles, his first in a Gamecock uniform … Dalles is the fifth Gamecock player this year to record two homers in one game … He drove in three wins in the 10-4 victory over Auburn … Dalles is hitting .321 (34-for-106) on the year with eight HR and 25 RBI … He is also hitting .352 in SEC games (19-for-54) with four homers in conference play.
BRADLEY, JR.
Freshman outfielder Jackie Bradley, Jr. had a strong week at the plate hitting .524 (11-for-21) with eight runs scored and eight RBI in the five games … Bradley, Jr. is the team’s fourth best hitter on the year with a .329 average (54-for-164) … He has seven HR and 27 RBI as well … Bradley, Jr. was 5-for-10 with five runs scored in the Auburn series … He also was the second Gamecock player this season to record five hits in one game with his five hits in the 20-6 win over College of Charleston on Tuesday.
CRISP
Senior third baseman Andrew Crisp continues to climb among several career lists in South Carolina school history … He had five hits in the Auburn series and has moved up to 9th on the USC career hits list … He has 235 in a Carolina uniform and is 10 behind Hank Small (1972-75) for eighth place … Crisp also has 175 career singles that puts him fifth on the USC career list … Crisp is hitting .337 (55-for-163) with eight HR and 30 RBI … He is hitting .347 in SEC games (26-for-75) with five HR and 16 RBI … He had three hits including two doubles and two RBI in the 8-3 win over Auburn … He also had two hits and two RBI in the 10-4 win over the Tigers.
MACK
Junior outfielder DeAngelo Mack hit a two-run homer and also had a RBI single in the 10-4 win over the Tigers … Mack is Carolina’s leading hitter at a .348 average (55-for-158) with 11 HR and 43 RBI … He also leads the team with 17 multi-hit games.
COOPER
Sunday’s win over Auburn also featured junior RHP Blake Cooper … The Gamecock right-hander allowed just four runs on seven hits with five strikeouts in six-plus innings of work … Cooper is 5-3 with a 4.73 ERA.
MERRIFIELD
Carolina leadoff hitter Whit Merrifield is getting things done at the top of the order … Merrifield was 9-for-21 (.429) last week with seven runs scored … He is hitting .325 on the year with six HR and 28 RBI … Merrifield and Bradley, Jr. lead the team with 43 runs scored.
FAROTTO
Senior left-hander Alex Farotto had a pair of scoreless outings on the week vs. The Citadel (1.0 IP) and Auburn (2.0) … Farotto lowered his ERA to 4.21 and he owns 32 strikeouts in 25.2 innings … Opponents are hitting just .200 against him.
QUICK START
South Carolina continues to get off to the quick start this year outscoring its opponent 100-34 in the first two innings … South Carolina is 15-8 on the year when scoring first in a game including a 16-5 mark when scoring in the first inning.
BY THE NUMBERS
The Gamecocks sport a 24-2 record when out-hitting its opponent
The team is hitting .305 on the year (423-for-1387) with 68 HR and 277 RBI as well as 83 doubles … The team is fielding .974 with just 39 errors made … Carolina’s pitching staff owns a 4.91 ERA with 326 strikeouts in 355.1 innings … Teams are batting just .251 against the Gamecocks.
South Carolina has now 10 consecutive series against the Auburn Tigers dating back to the 1998 season. Carolina leads the all-time series history 32-17 with head coach Ray Tanner 27-9 overall against the Tigers.
