March 10, 2002
COLUMBIA, SC –
Senior Steve Thomas hit his first career home run Sunday to ignite a five run seventh inning rally as fourth ranked South Carolina defeated Seton Hall 10-5 to sweep a three game college baseball series.
Blake Taylor pitched the final 2 1/3 innings to pick up his third win against no losses as four South Carolina pitchers combined to tie a school record with 18 strikeouts. The record was set against The Citadel in 1993. Elvys Quezada, 0-2, was charged with the loss. South Carolina improved to 13-2 while Seton Hall, which has played 12 consecutive road games, dropped to 2-10.
South Carolina, which once trailed 5-0, was behind 5-3 when Drew Meyer led off the bottom of the seventh with a double. Thomas followed with a two run shot over the left centerfield fence to tie the score. Garris Gonce was hit by a pitch with one out and Justin Harris tripled to drive in the go ahead run. An error and a hit by Landon Powell plated two more runs and the Gamecocks led 8-5.
Yaron Peters closed out the scoring with a two run eighth inning homer, his seventh of the season. Trey Dyson homered for South Carolina, his third, in the sixth inning. Two other Gamecock runs scored in the fourth on two hits, two walks and a sacrifice fly.
A single by Casey Grimm, a hit batter and two Gamecock errors staked Seton Hall to a 3-0 lead in the first inning. The Pirates added two runs in the top of the fourth. Lou Santangelo led off the inning with his first home run. Successive two out singles by Anthony Seratelli, Santiago Chi and Grimm drove in the fifth Pirate run.
Each team had 11 hits with Seratelli and Grimm getting three hits each for Seton Hall. Tim Pahuta had a double. Justin Harris had a single, double and triple to account for three Gamecock hits. Thomas and Peters had two hits.
South Carolina stretched its winning streak to five games. The Gamecocks end a seven game home stand with Tuesday and Wednesday night games against Purdue and Davidson. Game time both nights is 7 p.m. South Carolina opens its Southeastern Conference schedule next weekend at Mississippi State.
SETON HALL 300 200 000 — 5-11-2
SOUTH CAROLINA 000 201 52x – 10-11-3
Carter, Skrypack (4), Quezada (7), Barrow (7) and Santangelo. Spigner, Campbell (4), Rawl (7), Taylor (7) and Powell. W-Taylor (3-0). L-Quezada (0-2). Save-None. 2B-SH, Pahuta, USC, Harris, Meyer. 3B-USC, Harris. HR-SH, Santangelo, USC, Dyson (3), Thomas (1), Peters (7).
