April 16, 2007
Columbia, S.C. – South Carolina (28-8) continues action this week in the first of five games, hosting Wofford (19-18) on Tuesday night with first pitch set for 7 pm at Sarge Frye Field. The Gamecocks will also host Clemson on Wednesday night at 7 pm with the game televised live on CSS-TV. Carolina remains ranked No. 4 in this week’s Baseball America and Rivals.com poll. The Gamecocks are also ranked No. 5 in this week’s Collegiate Baseball Top 30.
PROBABLE STARTING PITCHERS
Tuesday
SC Blake Cooper, Fr. (RHP) 4-0, 2.15 ERA, 29.1 IP, 23 K, 11 BB
WOF TBA
Record: 28-8 (9-6 in the SEC)
16-4 in home games
8-4 in road games
4-0 in neutral games
5-3 vs. top 25 teams
Last Week: 2-1
Wednesday 4/11 – at Clemson – postponed and rescheduled for Wednesday 4/25
Friday 4/13 – Auburn – L, 16-1
Saturday 4/14 – Auburn – W, 10-1
Sunday 4/15 – Auburn – W, 18-4
QUICK RECAP
South Carolina went 2-1 this past week, winning a three-game series vs. Auburn … After falling 16-1 in the first game, Carolina bounced back with a 10-1 win on Saturday and an 18-4 win in the rubber game … After three weeks of SEC play, Carolina sits in a tie for third place overall in the conference with a 9-6 record and tied with Vanderbilt atop the SEC Eastern Division.
HEMPY
Saturday’s 10-1 victory featured a solid performance on the mound from junior left-hander Arik Hempy … In his first start against at SEC team this season, Hempy limited the Tigers to just two hits in a season-high 6.2 innings of work with five strikeouts and four walks … Hempy did not allow a hit from the 2nd-5th inning against Auburn … He is now 3-0 on the year with a 1.86 ERA in five games as well as 19.1 innings, with 19 strikeouts.
JEFFORDS
Junior RHP Jeff Jeffords contributed again on Sunday in a Gamecock win to help the club win a series … Jeffords worked 3.1 scoreless innings of relief and picked up the win in Sunday’s game vs. the Tigers … He allowed just two hits in his appearance … Jeffords is 4-0 with a 1.17 ERA in 11 relief appearances and 23 innings … He has struck out 29 and walked just five, opponents are batting .139 against him.
THE PITCHERS
The Gamecock pitching staff continues to lead the conference with a team ERA of 3.09 … The Gamecock pitchers have 353 strikeouts to 128 walks in 332.1 innings of work with opponents batting just .226 on the year.
HONEYCUTT
Junior RHP Harris Honeycutt lost his first career game in a Gamecock uniform in Friday’s loss to Auburn … He is now 15-1 in his career with the Gamecocks … Honeycutt is still 7-1 this season with a 2.65 ERA with 69 strikeouts in 54.1 innings of work as well.
JONES
Junior INF Travis Jones continues to swing a hot bat … He batted .417 (5-for-12) this past weekend with two more HR and eight RBI vs. the Tigers … Jones now is batting .323 (43-for-133) on the year with 10 HR and 36 RBI on the year and is also fielding .989 with just two errors at second base.
DARNELL
Sophomore INF James Darnell also tallied four hits against the Tigers including a pair of three-run homers … He is batting .350 (43-for-123) on the year with 11 HR and 39 RBI … Darnell has a .385 average in SEC games with five HR and 20 RBI as well … He also owns a 10-game hitting streak.
SMOAK
Junior first baseman Justin Smoak currently holds the longest hitting streak, 17 games, hitting safely in all three games vs. Auburn … Smoak homered in Friday’s game vs. Auburn and is batting .342 with 11 HR and 42 RBI on the year.
HAVENS
Sophomore shortstop Reese Havens has hit safely in seven straight games and has raised his season batting average to .283 with 10 doubles and 28 RBI … He is hitting .304 in SEC games (17-for-56) with 12 RBI.
AT THE PLATE
The Gamecock offense has now homered 62 times in 36 games, among the nation’s leaders in the category … The team is batting .318 on the year (419-for-1319) and .319 in SEC games as well … The .319 average in conference games is the best among all 12 SEC schools.
A LOOK CLOSER
South Carolina has won eight straight series vs. Auburn (1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007) and lead the all-time series 27-16 … The Gamecocks have won four of the first five SEC series this year.
NEXT WEEK
Tuesday 4/17 – Wofford – 7 pm
Wednesday 4/18 – Clemson – 7 pm (CSS-TV)
Friday 4/20 – at Ole Miss – 6:30 pm CT (Sports South)
Saturday 4/21 – at Ole Miss – 4 pm CT (Sports South)
Sunday 4/22 – at Ole Miss – 1:30 pm CT (Sports South)
