May 22, 2002
BIRMINGHAM, ALA. – Senior LHP Gary Bell pitched his first complete game of the season and Garris Gonce homered as second ranked South Carolina defeated Arkansas 10-1 in the opening round of the SEC Baseball Tournament. USC improves to 45-12 on the year, while Arkansas drops to 30-25 on the season. South Carolina’s victory vs. Arkansas marks the first time in USC history that the Gamecocks have won a first round game at the SEC Tournament.
Bell became the second pitcher of the season for USC to throw a complete game, going all nine innings and striking out 11 batters, his second best total of the year. Bell is now 9-2 on the year while Charlie Isaccson took the loss for Arkansas and is now 4-7 on the year. South Carolina will play at 9 p.m. ET Thursday evening vs. the fourth seed, LSU. The South Carolina starter has not been determined. USC defeated LSU two of three games in Columbia in late April.
Carolina went right to work in the bottom of the first, scoring two runs off of Arkansas starter Charlie Isaacson. After Drew Meyer led off the inning with a bunt single, Steve Thomas knocked his first triple of the season off the left field wall to score Meyer. With a 1-0 lead, Carolina increased it to two runs as Brian Buscher doubled to right center to score Thomas.
Following a scoreless second inning, USC came back in the third with two more runs as Trey Dyson’s two-out RBI single to left field scored Meyer and Thomas.
South Carolina put up its third two spot of the game in the bottom of the fifth inning as Garris Gonce crushed his 15th home run of the season over the left field wall, a two-run shot, giving Carolina a 6-0 lead. The Gonce home run was the 100th home run hit by USC this season. The Razorbacks broke the shutout in the seventh inning as a two-out RBI single by Cody Clark scored Ryan Fox, decreasing the Carolina lead to 6-1. The Gamecocks added four more runs in the bottom half of the seventh inning as two Razorback errors led to runs for Carolina.
South Carolina finished the game playing its 28th errorless game of the season
