April 24, 2006
Columbia, S.C. – South Carolina baseball (30-11, 11-7 SEC) is ranked 14th in this week’s Baseball America Top 25 along with 19th in the Collegiate Baseball Top 30. The Gamecocks are coming off a tough weekend sweep at the hands of Kentucky with all three games decided by three runs or less. South Carolina returns to action on Friday evening with a three-game SEC series at home vs. Mississippi State. Live audio and live gametracker stats are available for all three games at uscsports.com.
Record: 30-11
SEC Record: 11-7
25-5 in home games
5-5 in road games
0-0 in neutral games
8-8 vs. top 25 teams
Last Week: 1-3
Wednesday 4/19 – vs. The Citadel – W, 11-2
Friday 4/21- at Kentucky – L, 9-10 (11)
Saturday 4/22 – at Kentucky – L, 12-15
Sunday 4/23 – at Kentucky – L, 9-12
WEEKLY NOTES:
QUICK RECAP
South Carolina went 1-3 over the week with a win against the Citadel and three defeats over the weekend at Kentucky … All three games in Lexington were decided by three runs or less with the Gamecocks falling both Saturday and Sunday despite six-run leads … Carolina had a 12-6 lead entering the bottom of the seventh inning in Saturday’s loss and a 6-0 lead entering the bottom of the fourth inning in Sunday’s defeat … The first game of the series saw Carolina rally from seven runs down in the eighth inning to tie the game at 9-9 before falling to Kentucky 10-9 in the 11th inning … Carolina outhit the Wildcats 41-33 on the weekend and scored 30 runs, the team’s second highest hit total and third highest run total in a three-game SEC series … The 15 runs allowed in Saturday’s loss were the most allowed in an SEC game by the Gamecocks since May 9, 1998 when Kentucky defeated USC 15-14 in 10 innings, that game was also in Lexington.
South Carolina currently holds a 30-11 record with an 11-7 mark in the SEC … The Gamecocks and Wildcats are tied for the Eastern Division lead and two games behind SEC leader Alabama (13-5).
PELZER
South Carolina sophomore RHP Wynn Pelzer saw his scoreless inning streak in SEC games snapped in Friday’s extra-inning loss to the Wildcats … Pelzer had gone 19 scoreless innings before allowing a solo homer to John Shelby … He is 3-1 with a 1.39 ERA on the year with four saves in 32.1 innings pitched … His SEC stats are 3-1, 0.47 ERA, 20 strikeouts and just one run and four hits allowed in 19 innings.
CRISP
Freshman INF Andrew Crisp had a stellar weekend at the plate for Carolina batting 9-for-14 (.643) … Crisp homered and had a career-high four hits in Sunday’s loss … He currently owns a 10-game hitting streak and is batting .459 in SEC games with three HR and nine RBI … On the season he is at .344 in 29 games played with four HR and 11 RBI.
CAMPBELL
Senior OF Michael Campbell also owns an eight-game hitting streak and went 6-for-11 (.545) in the Kentucky series.
BACK-TO-BACK-TO-BACK
South Carolina hit back-to-back-to-back homers in Wednesday’s win over the Citadel … Ian Paxton, Robbie Grinestaff and Jon Willard hit three consecutive homers, on homer shy of the school record set in 1980 vs. East Carolina.
ATWOOD
Freshman LHP Will Atwood earned a win over the Citadel with a career-high 6.2 innings allowing one run on four hits … He is 3-0 on the year with a 3.29 ERA.
ON TAP
South Carolina returns to action this weekend with a three-game series at home vs. Mississippi State … The Bulldogs return to the Gamecocks’ schedule following two years off … Carolina and MSU met last year in the SEC Tournament where the Bulldogs earned a 6-2 win.
NEXT WEEK
Friday – 4/28 vs. Mississippi State – 7 pm
Saturday – 4/29 vs. Mississippi State – 4 pm
Sunday – 4/30 vs. Mississippi State – 1:30 pm
