May 18, 2007
Columbia, S.C. – Gordon Beckham went 3-for-5 with a two-run homer and Nathan Moreau pitched five solid innings to earn his sixth win of the year as Georgia defeated South Carolina 6-4 on Friday evening in game two of a three-game SEC series. The series finale is scheduled for Saturday at 4 pm with the game televised live on Fox Sports Net South. The Gamecocks will honor the All-Era teams tomorrow before the game as well. Saturday’s game is officially sold out. Georgia is 23-32 and 11-18 in the SEC while South Carolina is now 39-16 and 16-13 in conference play.
Moreau allowed four runs on eight hits with four strikeouts and two walks allowed to improve to 6-2 on the year. Carolina starting pitcher Arik Hempy suffered the loss and is 5-2 on the year. He went four-plus innings and allowed six runs, five earned, on eight hits with five walks and three strikeouts.
Georgia got a run in the top of the first inning as the first four batters reached base. Ryan Peisel walked, Jonathan Wyatt singled with Peisel scoring on Gordon Beckham’s RBI base hit. With the bases loaded and no outs, Hempy did a bit of damage control against the Bulldogs as he struck out Olson, coaxed Robbins into a pop up and struck out Lewis to end the inning and limit Georgia to one run.
South Carolina tied the game back at one in the bottom half of the inning as James Darnell stroked his 18th home run of the year to right field. It extended Darnell’s hitting streak to 12 games and tied him with Travis Jones for the team lead.
Georgia regained the lead touching Hempy for two more runs in the second inning. Peisel reached base for the second time of the game with a two-run double to score Travis Parrott and Miles Starr. Carolina rallied to tie it a second time on the backs of the second homer of the game for the squad. Phil Disher launched his 14th round tripper of the year to left center, a two-run shot, tying the game at 3-3 in the bottom of the third inning.
Georgia used the long ball to retake the lead in the fourth inning. Jonathan Wyatt singled with two outs followed by a two-run homer to left field by Gordon Beckham giving the Bulldogs a 5-3 edge. The Bulldogs would get another in the fifth inning to go up by three runs. South Carolina scored its final run in the bottom of the fifth inning with Justin Smoak also homering for his 18th of the year. The Gamecocks own 36 home runs in the last 15 games.
The final four innings went scoreless then as both relief staffs kept the offenses at bay. Carolina reliever Alex Farotto pitched four hitless innings with five strikeouts and Curtis Johnson pitched a scoreless ninth inning. The Bulldogs reliever Joshua Fields earned a save in 1.1 innings of work allowing one hit. Fields came on in the bottom of the eighth with the bases loaded and was able to get Smoak to line out to right field to preserve a Georgia lead.
South Carolina will be either the third, fourth or fifth seed at the SEC Tournament depending on results on Saturday afternoon in SEC action.
