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May 30, 2007
Columbia, S.C. – South Carolina is making its 23rd appearance in the NCAA Division I Baseball Tournament including its eighth straight season in reaching the NCAA Tournament field. Carolina is one of only nine teams in the nation that has reached the NCAA Regional in the last eight consecutive years (2000-07).
The South Carolina Gamecocks are hosting for an NCAA Regional for the 11th time in school history as well as the fourth time in the last seven years.
NCAA DIVISION I SCHOOLS TO REACH NCAA REGIONALS IN LAST EIGHT SEASONS (2000-07)
SOUTH CAROLINA
Arizona State
Cal State Fullerton
Clemson
Florida State
Miami (Fla.)
Oral Roberts
Rice
Texas
COLUMBIA (S.C.) REGIONAL DATES/TIMES/FORMAT
Friday, June 1
Game 1 — N.C. State (No. 2) vs. Charlotte (No. 3), 2 p.m.
Game 2 — South Carolina (No. 1) vs. Wofford (No. 4), 7 p.m.
Saturday, June 2
Game 3 — Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2, 2 p.m.
Game 4 — Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2, 7 p.m.
Sunday, June 3
Game 5 — Winner Game 3 vs. Loser Game 4, 2 p.m.
Game 6 — Winner Game 4 vs. Winner Game 5, 7 p.m.
Monday, June 4
Game 7 — If necessary (if game 5 winner wins game 6), 7 p.m.
SOUTH CAROLINA & NCAA HISTORY
South Carolina comes into the NCAA Regional with an all-time record of 84-49 (.632) in tournament action including a 41-20 (.672) record under head coach Ray Tanner. The Gamecocks have reached six of the last seven NCAA Super Regionals (2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006), one of only three teams in the nation to accomplish the feat heading into this year (Florida State & Miami, other two schools). South Carolina has reached the College World Series eight times in school history (1975, 1977, 1981, 1982, 1985, 2002, 2003, 2004).
40 WINS AND COUNTING
For the eighth consecutive season, the South Carolina Gamecocks have put together a 40-plus win season. South Carolina is the only SEC team to accomplish that feat from 2000-present, and also the only school in that timespan to have reached both the NCAA and the SEC Tournament all eight times.
South Carolina has reached the SEC Tournament 11 straight years (1997-2007) and has been in 15 of 16 SEC tournaments since joining in 1992 (1996 only year missed).
NCAA REGIONAL APPEARANCES OVER THE LAST EIGHT YEARS IN SEC1 South Carolina 8 2000-01-02-03-04-05-06-072. Mississippi St. 7 2000-01-03-04-05-06-073. Arkansas 6 2002-03-04-05-06-07 Florida 6 2000-01-02-03-04-05 LSU 6 2000-01-02-03-04-05 Ole Miss 6 2001-03-04-05-06-077. Alabama 5 2000-02-03-05-06 Auburn 5 2000-01-02-03-059. Georgia 4 2001-02-04-0610. Tennessee 3 2001-04-05 Vanderbilt 3 2004-06-0712. Kentucky 1 2006
QUICK RECAP
South Carolina enters the NCAA Tournament coming of a 2-2 week at the SEC Tournament that saw the Gamecocks defeat the Florida Gators twice but fall in both games against the Arkansas Razorbacks.
ALL-SEC GAMECOCKS
Four different South Carolina players have earned SEC conference honors including junior second baseman Travis Jones and junior designated hitter Phil Disher , who were named to the All-SEC first team by a vote of the league’s 12 head baseball coaches. Sophomore first baseman Justin Smoak and sophomore third baseman James Darnell earned second team All-SEC honors.
In 60 games this season, junior Travis Jones is batting .326 on the year (77-for-236) including 18 home runs and 63 RBI. Jones has compiled 14 of his 18 home runs in SEC games. Four times this season Jones tallied multi-home run games including last Thursday in a 13-3 win vs. Georgia, when he went 3-for-4 with a pair of homers and a team season-high of six RBI.
Coming off a strong postseason performance that included a NCAA Regional MVP honor in Charlottesville, Va. in 2006, junior Phil Disher continues to impress at the DH spot batting a team-best .335 (71-for-212) with 14 home runs and 56 RBI as well as 15 doubles. Disher also leads the team with 25 multi-hit games.
After earning SEC All-Freshman Team and Freshman All-America honors last year, sophomore Justin Smoak has been a steady force in the Carolina lineup in his second season in the garnet and black. Smoak, along with Jones, has started all 60 games on the year. He has batted .304 (73-for-240) with 18 home runs and 65 RBI. Named to the USA Baseball National Team last week, Smoak has delivered with the big bat as he leads the team with 19 multi-RBI games. Earlier in the season, he also put together a 23-game hitting streak that was two short of the Carolina school record and the longest of the year by an SEC player.
In his first year at the hot corner, sophomore James Darnell has been a productive part of the Gamecock lineup with a team-best .338 batting average (73-for-216) to go along with 18 home runs and 60 RBI. Darnell was the team’s best hitter in conference play as well batting .367 (44-for-120) against SEC teams with 10 HR and 36 RBI as well. Darnell had a stretch of four consecutive games with a home run in April that was one short of a school record.
HOME RUNS
The Gamecocks head into NCAA Regional action with 104 on the season, currently the eighth highest total in school history. It also is second in the nation behind Wofford. The Terriers own 106 on the year. Four Gamecocks have 10 or more home runs (James Darnell (18), Travis Jones (18), Justin Smoak (18) and Phil Disher (14)). South Carolina did not hit a home run in four games at the SEC Tournament.
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 year.
Justin Smoak became the 20th player in school history to reach the 30 home run mark when he homered at Ole Miss in late April. Smoak currently has 35 career home runs in his second season in the garnet and black.
SOUTH CAROLINA HOME RUN SUPERLATIVESRecord when South Carolina hits 0 home runs 5-8Record when South Carolina hits 1 home run 11-4Record when South Carolina hits 2 or more home runs 26-6A LOOK AT SOME RECORDSTEAM RECORDS ((single-season)Place Season HR1) 1985 1442) 1986 1273) 2002 122 1998 1225) 2001 110Place Season HR6) 2004 1067) 2000 1058) 2007 1049) 1997 9410) 2006 92
A LOOK BACK AT THE SEC SCHEDULE
South Carolina had a strong showing in the SEC 30-game schedule winning seven of 10 series played. For the first time since joining the league, Carolina did not sweep any of the 10 that were played. However, the Gamecocks put together a solid third-game record, going 9-1 in the last game played of a series.
Carolina won four of five SEC series at home with three of five SEC series won on the road away from Sarge Frye Field. The three series wins over Kentucky, Tennessee and Georgia marked the longest stretch of the year with series wins.
THE CISCO KID
Sophomore right-hander Mike Cisco has returned with a bang to the rotation and has won three straight starts. Cisco won his start vs. Florida at the SEC Tournament as he pitched seven innings and allowed two runs on four hits. Cisco also put together quality starts and earned wins vs. Georgia last week and vs. Clemson and The Citadel in midweek non-conference match-ups including a career-high 10 strikeouts vs. The Citadel. On the year, Cisco is 6-2 with a 3.91 ERA in 78.1 innings.
AT THE PLATE WITH MR. JONES
Junior second baseman Travis Jones has been as productive as any hitter in the nation in the second half of the year. Jones went 7-for-18 (.389) at the SEC Tournament with three multi-hit games in the four contests.
Twice this season, Jones has picked up SEC Player of the Week honors. 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.
Jones previously earned the honor and was featured in Sports Illustrated in the Faces in the Crowd section after the Florida series in April. In one of the most impressive offensive performances of the year, Jones went 11-for-15 (.733) the week of the Florida series, including 9-for-12 (.750) vs. the Gators to earn National Player of the Week honors from Collegiate Baseball and SEC Player of the Week honors from the conference office. Jones tallied five home runs in the three-game series vs. the Gators as well as 11 RBI.
His three-run homer in Sunday’s 8-6 win over the Gators tied the game in the ninth inning when the Gamecocks were trailing 5-2 with one out and helped lead the Gamecocks to a weekend series victory.
