Feb. 28, 2005
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
Ranked # 5 Baseball America
Ranked # 5 Collegiate Baseball
Ranked # 5 Sports Weekly/ESPN
Ranked # 6 NCBWA
Record: 9-0
9-0 in home games
0-0 in road games
0-0 vs. top 25 teams
Last Week: 3-0
Friday — 2/25 vs. Niagara — W, 8-3
Saturday – 2/26 vs. Niagara — W, 19-1
Sunday – 2/27 vs. Niagara — W, 6-2
WEEKLY NOTES:
South Carolina swept a weekend series vs. Niagara and outscored the Purple Eagles 33-6 in the three games … Senior 3B Steve Pearce played in his first three games of the season and went 8-for-13 (.615) with three HR, two of which were grand slams as well as 10 RBI … Pearce hit a grand slam in a 19-1 win on Saturday vs. Niagara and a game-winning grand slam the next day on Sunday to break a 2-2 tie in a 6-2 Gamecock win … Pearce has a seven-game hitting streak dating back to the 2004 season as well.
Senior RHP Aaron Rawl improved to 3-0 with the win on Friday, he allowed two runs on three hits in six innings pitched on his way to the win … Rawl’s career record at USC is 29-9 and he is currently in ninth place on the South Carolina All-Time Wins List … Senior RHP Zac McCamie worked five innings to earn the win on Saturday … McCamie worked five innings and allowed one run on three hits … McCamie is now 10-0 in his career at Carolina … Rawl’s current ERA is at 1.12 with McCamie right behind him at 1.42 … Senior RHP Jason Fletcher made his first appearance of the season and picked up a win in Sunday’s victory over the Purple Eagles … Fletcher worked four scoreless innings of relief allowing just two hits and striking out three batters … Junior RHP Brent Marsh earned his second save of the year in Friday’s victory … Marsh now has two saves on the year in three relief appearances with five strikeouts … Eight USC pitchers have made appearances out of the bullpen without allowing a run.
Junior INF Steven Tolleson had an eight-game hitting streak snapped on Sunday, his first game of the season without a hit … Tolleson is off to a strong start for the Gamecocks with a .486 batting average on the year including a team-high 17 hits and 15 RBI … Tolleson has six multi-hit games this year with a team-high four multi-RBI games … Sophomore DH Jon Willard had a strong weekend vs. Niagara batting .400 with two HR and five RBI … Willard hit a home run on Sunday that brought Carolina back from a one-run deficit in the seventh inning … Willard is batting .458 on the year with three HR and eight RBI with a current hitting streak of six games … Senior OF Brendan Winn had two more home runs on the weekend and has five on the year with 14 RBI.
South Carolina has homered in all nine games this year including a team-high six home runs in Saturday’s 19-1 win over Niagara … The Gamecocks are batting .359 as a team with 98 runs scored in nine games and 10 or more hits in six of the nine games played … Carolina is also having success on the mound as the team owns a 1.89 ERA with 79 strikeouts and 14 walks allowed in 81 innings pitched on the year … Dating back to the 2000 season, South Carolina is 59-1 in games played in February …
South Carolina plays Wofford on Wednesday night at 6 p.m. ET before traveling north this weekend for the Dairy Queen Classic, hosted by Minnesota in the Metrodome … Carolina will face Pepperdine on Friday, Minnesota on Saturday and New Orleans on Sunday … It will be the first time Carolina has faced both Pepperdine and Minnesota … USC owns a 7-6 record vs. New Orleans. Saturday night’s game vs. the Gophers will be televised on Fox Sports Net North on a tape delay basis beginning at 9:30 pm ET.
NEXT WEEK
Wednesday vs. Wofford – 6 p.m. ET
Friday-Sunday at Dairy Queen Classic (Minneapolis, Minn.)
Friday: vs. Pepperdine – 1:15p.m. ET
Saturday vs. Minnesota – 7:30 p.m. ET (FOX Sports Net North Tape Delay 9:30 p.m. ET)
Sunday vs. New Orleans – 12 p.m.
