April 9, 2007
Columbia, S.C. – South Carolina junior second baseman Travis Jones has earned Louisville Slugger National Player of the Week honors from Collegiate Baseball newspaper. Jones was very productive this weekend with a 9-for-12 series vs. Florida including five home runs and 11 RBI. The Gamecocks are ranked No. 4 in both the Baseball America and Collegiate Baseball rankings released on Monday afternoon. South Carolina returns to action on Wednesday night with a non-conference tilt at Clemson. First pitch is 7:15 pm with the game televised on CSS-TV.
Record: 26-7 (7-5 in the SEC)
14-3 in home games
8-4 in road games
4-0 in neutral games
5-3 vs. top 25 teams
Last Week: 3-1
Wednesday 3/27 – Furman – W, 10-0
Friday 4/6 – at Florida – W, 12-2
Saturday 4/7 – at Florida – L, 9-8
Sunday 4/8 – at Florida – W, 8-6 (11)
QUICK RECAP
South Carolina went 3-1 this past week with a 10-0 win over Furman and two of three wins this weekend at Florida (12-2, 8-6 (11 inn.) … After three weeks of SEC play, Carolina sits in a tie for third place overall in the conference with a 7-5 record.
JONES
In one of the most impressive offensive performances of the year, junior second baseman Travis Jones went 11-for-15 (.733) at the plate this week including 9-for-12 (.750) in the weekend series vs. SEC-leading Florida … Jones tallied five home runs in the three-game series vs. the Gators as well as 11 RBI … Jones had his second and third multi-homer games of the year on Friday and Sunday vs. Florida, both were Gamecock victories over the Gators … He has three multi-homer games this season for the Gamecocks, the only player on the squad to accomplish the feat … His three-run homer in Sunday’s 8-6 win over the Gators tied the game in the ninth inning when the Gamecocks were trailing 5-2 with one out and helped lead the Gamecocks to a weekend series victory … Both his five RBI in Friday’s and Sunday’s games also tied a career-high … Jones’ slugging percentage from this week’s four games was 1.800 with six of 11 of his hits extra base hits … Raised his season batting average to .314 on the year.
THE CAROLINA OFFENSE
South Carolina continues to hit with two more double-digit hit games this past weekend at Florida … Carolina has reached at least 10 hits in 12 of the last 14 games … The Gamecocks batted .339 in Gainesville (42-for-124) including 11 home runs vs. the Gators … As a team, South Carolina is batting .316 on the year with 57 home runs and 281 runs scored in 33 games.
GAMECOCK PITCHERS
The Gamecock pitching staff continues to deliver with a team ERA of 2.83 in 305.1 innings with 329 strikeouts and just 111 walks allowed as well … Teams are batting just .225 on the year against the Gamecocks.
HONEYCUTT
Junior right-handed pitcher Harris Honeycutt pitched six scoreless innings in Friday’s 12-2 win over the Gators … Honeycutt improved to 7-0 on the season with the win and is 15-0 in his career at Carolina … This year, Honeycutt owns a 1.43 ERA in 50.1 innings and has struck out 61 batters to just 16 walks … Teams are just batting .194 against him.
JEFFORDS
Senior right-handed pitcher Jeff Jeffords came up big out of the bullpen in Sunday’s 11-inning win over the Gators … Jeffords pitched a career-high 6.2 innings and allowed just one run, unearned, on three hits while striking out four and walking two batters … He is 3-0 on the year with a 1.37 ERA and 25 strikeouts in 19.2 innings of work.
CRISP
Sophomore Andrew Crisp had a solid three game-series vs. Florida batting 6-for-15 with five runs and a pair of homers on the weekend … He raised his batting average to .306 with three HR and 16 RBI on the year.
SMOAK
Junior first baseman Justin Smoak hit safely in all three games this weekend and has extended his career-long hitting streak to 14 games … Saturday’s game also featured his team-leading 10th home run of the year … He also leads the team with 12 multi-RBI games.
DARNELL
James Darnell hit safely in all three games this weekend and is batting .355 on the year with nine HR and 32 RBI … He is also the team’s leading hitter in SEC games with a .404 average (21-for-52) as well as 13 RBI.
KLINE
Junior catcher Trent Kline hit a game-winning homer for the Gamecocks in the 11th inning of Sunday’s 8-6 win over Florida … Kline is the team’s leading hitter at a .360 clip with five homers and 28 RBI on the year … He has started 30 of 32 games as well.
A CLOSER LOOK
South Carolina has now defeated Florida in seven of the last eight series played between the two schools dating back to the 2000 season (2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007)
NEXT WEEK
Wednesday 4/11 – at Clemson – 7:15 pm (CSS-TV)
Friday 4/13 – Auburn – 7 pm
Saturday 4/14 – Auburn – 5 pm
Sunday 4/15 – Auburn – 1:30 pm
