March 11, 2003
Columbia, S.C. – The South Carolina baseball team hosts Western Carolina on Wednesday evening at 7 p.m. in the Gamecocks final tuneup before SEC play opens up this weekend. The Gamecocks are 13-3 on the season and finished 4-1 last week with wins over Gardner Webb, Furman and Radford. South Carolina remains ranked sixth in the nation by Collegiate Baseball as well as seventh in the Sports Weekly/USA Today coaches poll. The Gamecocks moved down one spot in the Baseball America poll to 11th this week.
Western Carolina enters the week with a 10-6 record and is 2-1 on the year in Southern Conference play. The Catamounts won their first SoCon series last weekend, winning two of three games vs. The Citadel. Senior 1B Todd Buchanan leads WCU at the plate with a .403 batting average as well as a team-high four HR and 14 RBI. The Catamounts will start sophomore LHP Brandon McDowell on Wednesday night. McDowell is 2-0 on the year with a 5.82 ERA in 17 innings pitched. South Carolina will counter with sophomore RHP Conor Lalor. The freshman from Germantown, Tenn. is 2-0 on the year with a 1.54 ERA.
Several Gamecock players are among the SEC leaders in several batting and pitching categories entering the week. Sophomore INF Kevin Melillo leads the SEC in walks with 15 and is second in on base percentage at .540. Junior catcher Landon Powell is tied for 10th in runs batted in with 16 and is also tied with freshman 1B Trey McDaniel for third in walks with 12. On the pitching side, junior LHP David Marchbanks is the SEC leader in innings pitched at 33 2/3 innings and is listed 10th in ERA at 1.87. Marchbanks is also among SEC leaders with 25 strikeouts. Sophomore RHP Aaron Rawl is tied at fourth with 30 strikeouts, including a second best 14, struck out looking. Opposing players are batting .179 against Rawl, third best by an SEC pitcher this season.
South Carolina opens the SEC season on Friday with a three-game series vs. Arkansas. Friday’s first pitch is set for 7 p.m. Audio broadcast and live stats will be available for all three broadcasts this weekend at USCSports.com.
