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May 10, 2007
Columbia, S.C. – South Carolina (36-14, 13-11 SEC) heads back on the road this weekend for a three-game SEC series at Tennessee (29-20, 10-12 SEC) beginning on Friday night (May 11) at 7 pm at Lindsey Nelson Stadium. Saturday’s game will be televised on CSS-TV and is also a 7 pm first pitch. The Sunday series finale is scheduled for 2 pm. All three games can also be heard on the Gamecock Radio Network and uscsports.com.
Carolina leads the all-time series history 34-30 over the Volunteers. Knoxville has not been kind to the Gamecocks in recent years though, as Tennessee has won eight straight games vs. Carolina dating back to the 2001 season. Tennessee took two of three games last year in Columbia at Sarge Frye Field.
South Carolina sits in second place in the Eastern Division and is tied for fourth overall in league play with a 13-11 mark. Carolina enters the weekend with six SEC games left on the slate.
PROBABLE STARTING PITCHERS
Friday
SC Arik Hempy, Jr. (LHP) 5-1, 1.59 ERA, 39.2 IP, 42 K, 14 BB
UT James Adkins, Jr. (LHP) 5-6, 2.70 ERA, 100.0 IP, 108 K, 33 BB
Saturday
SC Harris Honeycutt, Jr. (RHP) 7-4, 3.63 ERA, 69.1 IP, 83 K, 25 BB
UT TBA
Sunday
SC Blake Cooper, Fr. (RHP) 6-1, 2.76 ERA, 45.2 IP, 34 K, 16 BB
UT TBA
QUICK RECAP
Sophomore right-handed pitcher Mike Cisco struck out a career-high 10 batters in seven innings and behind four solo home runs, South Carolina defeated The Citadel 12-3 on Wednesday evening in a non-conference game at Sarge Frye Field.
Cisco worked his longest outing of the season with seven innings pitched. He allowed one run, unearned, on four hits with 10 strikeouts and one walk allowed. He is now 4-2 on the year. Chris McGuiness took the loss and is now 2-2 this season. He pitched two innings and allowed three runs on five hits.
South Carolina had 15 hits to The Citadel’s six on the evening including a 4-for-5 performance from Reese Havens along with three hits from Phil Disher. Havens and Kline each drove in three runs for the Gamecocks. Six different Bulldogs hitters comprised the Citadel’s hits on the evening.
JONES PICKS UP SEC PLAYER OF THE WEEK FOR A SECOND TIME
For the second time this season, junior infielder Travis Jones has been named SEC Player of the Week. Jones was solid in the Kentucky series batting .571 (8-for-14) on the weekend with a pair of home runs, five runs scored and seven RBI. Eleven of his 15 home runs have come in SEC games this year.
On the year, Jones is batting .328 with 15 HR and 53 RBI as well as 12 doubles. He also leads the team with 12 stolen bases. Jones and first baseman Justin Smoak have started all 50 games this season. RBI as well as 12 doubles … He also leads the team with 12 stolen bases … Jones and first baseman Justin Smoak have started all 49 games this season.
SOUTH CAROLINA DOWN THE HOME STRETCH IN THE SEC
South Carolina heads down the home stretch of the SEC season with two series left in the league for a total of six games. Carolina is on the road this week at Tennessee before closing out league play at home vs. Georgia. Below are results dating back the last seven seasons of South Carolina in its final nine games of the conference schedule.
Year First 21 Last 9 Final SEC record2000: 18-3 7-2 25-52001: 10-11 7-2 17-132002: 14-6 7-2 21-82003: 10-11 9-0 19-112004: 11-10 6-3 17-132005: 12-9 4-5 16-142006: 13-8 2-7 15-152007: 11-10 2-1 -------TOTALS 99-68 (.593) 44-22 (.667) 130-79 (.622)
HEMPY AND HONEYCUTT
South Carolina made a small tweak to its pitching rotation last weekend with junior left-hander Arik Hempy starting on Friday night and junior right-hander Harris Honeycutt moving to Saturday’s game.
Hempy will be made his fourth start against an SEC opponent and delivered vs. Kentucky with a quality six-inning performance. Hempy struck out a season-high 10 batters in six innings of Friday’s 8-1 win over the Wildcats. He is now 5-1 on the year with a 1.59 ERA in 39.2 innings with 42 strikeouts and 14 walks and just 26 hits allowed. Hempy has three of five of his wins in SEC contests. He is 3-1 with a 1.00 ERA in 27 innings and SEC teams batting just .180 against him.
Harris Honeycutt enters this week with a 7-4 record and a 3.63 ERA with a team-high 69.1 innings pitched with 83 strikeouts and 25 walks.
HOME RUNS
The Gamecocks knocked out six home runs in the Kentucky series and four more vs. the Citadel on Wednesday night to move the team to total to 90 on the year. The 90 homers is currently the 10th highest by a Carolina team in school history. Four Gamecocks have 10 or more home runs (James Darnell (16), Travis Jones (15), Justin Smoak (16) and Phil Disher (10)).
South Carolina’s game high for home runs is five, set on April 22 in a 11-9 win at Ole Miss. 13 different position players have hit at least one home run this season.
Justin Smoak became the 20th player in school history to reach the 30 home run mark when he homered at Ole Miss in Sunday’s win. Smoak currently has 33 career home runs in his second season in the garnet and black.
A LOOK AT SOME RECORDSTEAM RECORDS ((single-season)Place Season HR1) 1985 1442) 1986 1273) 2002 122 1998 1225) 2001 110
Place Season HR6) 2004 1067) 2001 1058) 1997 949) 2006 9210) 2007 90INDIVIDUALCareer Home Runs (30 or more)TTL Player Years Lettered48 Hank Small 1972-73-74-7547 Garrett Carter 1985-86-87-8845 Jeff Parnell 1990-91-92-9344 Landon Powell 2001-02-03-0443 Chris Boyle 1981-82-83-8442 Steve Pearce 2004-0541 Tripp Kelly 1998-99-00-0141 Charlie Aldrich 1985-86-8738 Eric Stanton 1996-97-9836 Derick Urquhart 1995-96-97-9834 Ryan Bordenick 1995-96-97-9833 Justin Smoak 2006-0733 Jim Curl 1978-79-80-8132 Joe Datin 1985-8631 Michael Campbell 2003-04-05-0631 Brendan Winn 2004-0531 Yaron Peters 2001-0231 Jerry Shepherd 1991-9231 Dave Hollins 1985-86-8730 Jeff Barns 1985-86-87
SMOAK STREAK
Sophomore first baseman Justin Smoak had his hitting streak snapped at 23 games after going 0-for-3 vs. the Clemson Tigers on April 25th. Smoak was two games shy of the school record of 25 set by Greg Keatley in the 1976 season. The 23-game hitting streak is the longest by an SEC player this year.
DARNELL DELIVERS
James Darnell is the team leader in hitting at a .330 clip (58-for-176) with six doubles, two triples and 16 home runs. Three weeks ago, Darnell had four consecutive home runs, when he hit a pair of three-run homers on Saturday and Sunday vs. Auburn along with a pair of solo shots vs. Wofford and Clemson in the midweek contests. The four consecutive homers was one short of the school record.
THE PITCHERS
The Gamecock pitching staff continues to be among the conference leaders with a team ERA of 3.61. The Gamecock pitchers have 475 strikeouts to 169 walks in 453.1 innings of work with opponents batting just .238 on the year.
JEFFORDS CONTINUES TO SHINE OUT OF THE BULLPEN
Junior RHP Jeff Jeffords is making a habit out of being successful out of the bullpen for the Gamecocks. Jeffords owns a 4-1 record with a 2.04 ERA in 17 appearances with 35.1 innings pitched. He has 43 strikeouts to seven walks allowed. Jeffords earned his first career save with two scoreless innings in the 11-9 victory at Ole Miss. He also earned a save last Saturday at Alabama and this past Sunday vs. Kentucky.
He worked 3.1 scoreless innings of relief and picked up the win a previous Sunday game, a win over the Auburn Tigers. He allowed just two hits in his appearance.
REINHOLD ENTERS THE MIX
South Carolina outfielder Steven Reinhold was a spark in the Gamecock lineup as a starter in the last two games at Alabama and started all three games last week vs. Kentucky. Reinhold had a career-high four hits in the 11-10 loss vs. the Crimson Tide, also his first career multi-hit game. Reinhold also hit his first home run of the season with a solo home run in the Wednesday win over The Citadel.
Reinhold has been primarily a defensive replacement in the late innings and a pinch runner as he has played in 42 of the 50 games for Carolina this year.
KLINE ADDED TO JOHNNY BENCH AWARD WATCH LIST
Junior catcher Trent Kline was added to the Johnny Bench Award Watch list in April. The award is given to the top collegiate catcher in the country. Kline is batting .328 on the year with 16 doubles, a triple, five home runs and 37 RBI. He has started 44games this year for Carolina.
