April 18, 2007
Columbia, S.C. – South Carolina hit four solo home runs and behind a solid six-inning effort from starting pitcher Mike Cisco earned a 4-2 win over 13th ranked Clemson on Wednesday evening at Sarge Frye Field in front of 5,821 fans. The Gamecocks have won all three meetings this season vs. the Tigers and are now 30-8 on the year. Clemson falls to 25-11 this season. Both teams will meet one more time on Wednesday, April 25 at Clemson.
Cisco, who made his first start since March 31st against Vanderbilt, limited the Tigers to just one run on four hits and struck out five batters while yielding one walk. He is now 3-2 on the year. Clemson starting pitcher Matt Zoltak suffered the loss and is now 1-3 this season. Zoltak went only 2.1 innings and allowed three runs on three hits with two walks and a strikeout.
The home run barrage began in the first inning when South Carolina went ahead 1-0 on a solo home run from Travis Jones, his 11th of the year and eighth in as many games. Carolina continued to use the long ball with three more home runs in the third inning that increased the lead to 4-0 over the Tigers. Harley Lail led off the frame with his fourth of the year; James Darnell launched his team-leading 13th of the year and Justin Smoak hit his 12th of the season. Darnell and Smoak’s home runs were back-to-back, the first time this year Carolina had achieved the feat. Darnell’s came off Zoltak while Smoak’s was against reliever Matt Vaughn.
Clemson came back to score a run in the fourth inning. Marquez Smith hit a one-out triple over the head of center fielder Andrew Crisp and scored on Andy D’Alessio’s RBI ground out. The Tigers would add a solo home run in the ninth inning by D’Alessio with two outs before reliever Will Atwood struck out Doug Hogan to earn a save and preserve the Gamecock victory.
Carolina had several solid outings out of the pen along with Cisco’s performance. Sophomore left-hander Alex Farotto went 1.2 innings and struck out the side in the seventh inning. With two outs and runners on first and second base, Farotto gave way to Wynn Pelzer, who got Taylor Harbin to pop out to second baseman Travis Jones.
South Carolina heads back on the road for a three-game series at Ole Miss beginning on Friday night at 7:30 pm ET with Saturday’s game at 5 pm ET and Sunday’s first pitch set for 2:30 pm ET. All three games will be televised on Sport South.
