March 17, 2009
COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina sophomore right-hander Parker Bangs pitched seven scoreless innings in his first career start and combined with freshman reliever Matt Price to hurl a three-hit shutout as South Carolina defeated Davidson 6-0 on Tuesday evening at Carolina Stadium. The win marked Carolina’s fourth shutout of the year and improved the Gamecocks to 12-4 while the loss drops the Wildcats to 8-7 for the season. South Carolina returns to action on Wednesday evening vs. Furman at Fluor Field in Greenville, S.C. First pitch is 7 pm with live audio broadcast available at GamecocksOnline.com. The game can also be heard on the Gamecock Radio Network.
In his third appearance on the mound this season, Bangs limited the Wildcats to two hits and two walks while tying a career-high with seven strikeouts. He is now 1-0 on the season. Bangs also helped himself out with the bat as he went 2-for-2 with a RBI at the plate. Price followed and allowed just one hit in two innings with three strikeouts to preserve the Gamecock shutout. Davidson starter Chris Kennedy suffered the loss and is 1-2 for the season. He allowed four runs on three hits in 2.1 innings with five walks and four strikeouts.
South Carolina got on top early with a run in the bottom of the first inning. Adam Matthews drew a leadoff walk, stole second base and scored on a RBI double from Whit Merrifield. Carolina added a single run in the second inning as Casey Rihn also led off with a walk and scored on a one-out double from Matthews.
With a 2-0 lead, Carolina doubled its advantage with two more runs in the fourth inning. Bangs helped his cause with a one-out RBI single and Andrew Crisp tallied a RBI with a sacrifice fly. South Carolina increased the lead to 5-0 in the fourth inning with Ebert knocking a two-out solo home run to left center. Ebert now has an eight-game hitting streak and seven homers on the year. He briefly tied DeAngelo Mack for the team lead but that ended in the bottom of the fifth inning when Mack launched his eighth home run of the season over the right centerfield wall for a 6-0 Gamecock lead.
Along with Bangs’ two hits, Carolina also received a 2-for-4 day from Mack, who also scored two runs. Andrew Crisp also tallied a hit and is one shy of reaching the career total of 200 in a Gamecock uniform. Ebert went 1-for-2 with two runs scored as well for Carolina. South Carolina finished with nine hits on the evening.
