April 17, 2007
Columbia, S.C. – Blake Cooper pitched 5.1 scoreless innings and James Darnell hit his team-leading 12th home run as South Carolina defeated Wofford 8-0 on Tuesday evening in a non-conference game at Sarge Frye Field. Cooper improves to 5-0 on the year and the Gamecocks are now 29-8 this season. Wofford falls to 19-19 on the year.
Cooper limited the Terriers to four hits and struck out two while issuing one walk. Three Carolina relievers (Wynn Pelzer, Curtis Johnson, Sean Wideberg) combined for 3.2 innings of scoreless and hitless work to preserve the Gamecock shutout, the team’s sixth of the season. Wofford starter Tom Dolinak suffered the loss and is now 0-2 on the year. He went 5.1 innings and allowed five runs on six hits with six walks and two strikeouts.
Carolina opened up a 1-0 lead in the first inning. Harley Lail walked, stole second base, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on James Darnell’s RBI single through the left side. Darnell extended the lead to 2-0 in the fourth inning with a solo home run, his team-leading 12th of the year and his third consecutive home run in as many games. South Carolina would score one more run in the frame as they would load the bases with Justin Smoak scoring on a grounded out double play.
Cooper ran into trouble in the sixth inning loading the bases with one out. The Gamecocks however were able to get out of the jam though with reliever Wynn Pelzer shutting down the Terriers as he coaxed Shane Kirkley to pop out and struck out Brandon Waring to end the Wofford threat and preserve the Carolina lead.
The lead jumped to 5-0 in the sixth inning with a pair of runs with two outs for the Gamecocks. With runners on second and third and two outs, Reese Havens connected with a RBI up the middle and past shortstop Mike Gilmartin to plate Phil Disher and Cheyne Hurst. Havens’ single extended his hitting streak to nine games.
Carolina would add a single run in the seventh and two more in the eighth innings. Travis Jones reached base on a throwing error by shortstop Mike Gilmartin and would eventually score on a wild pitch from Wofford reliever Chip Hunt. The first run in the eighth inning would be drove in by Jones, who hit a fielder’s choice RBI with the bases loaded to score Adam Crisp. Darnell would drive in his third run of the game with a line drive off Gilmartin, who came in to pitch in the eighth inning.
Darnell finished with three hits and Disher added two to lead the Gamecocks at the plate. Smoak extended his hitting streak to 18 games with a base hit in the fourth inning. Bradford Eaves was 2-for-4 for the Terriers.
South Carolina returns to action on Wednesday night renewing its in-state rivalry against Clemson. First pitch is 7 pm with the game televised on CSS-TV and broadcast on the Gamecock Radio Network and uscsports.com. Live video and stats are also available on-line.
