May 24, 2003
HOOVER, Ala. – Auburn sophomore left-hander Arnold Hughey pitched a five hit complete game Saturday to eliminate South Carolina 5-1 from the Southeastern Conference baseball tournament.
Hughey, 6-5, lost his shutout in the ninth inning when Bryan Triplett walked, stole second base and scored on a doubled by Kevin Melillo, the only extra base hit of the game. Matt Campbell, 5-4, the South Carolina starter, was charged with the loss. He allowed six hits and three runs, two of them unearned, in six innings.
South Carolina, which had committed only one error in its last nine games against Southeastern Conference opponents, was charged with three errors Saturday.
Auburn advanced to a Saturday evening game against Alabama while South Carolina went home to await word on a possible host site for an NCAA regional tournament. The Gamecocks, 39-20, are a cinch for a post season bid but won’t know until Sunday afternoon if they will host for the fourth consecutive year or travel to another regional site.
Auburn, 40-18, is also assured of a regional bid and the SEC could send as many as seven teams to the playoffs.
South Carolina, which lost to Alabama 9-7 Thursday and defeated Vanderbilt 3-2 Friday, went 1-2 in the conference tournament at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium. The Gamecocks swept their final three conference series over Kentucky, Alabama and Georgia to win the SEC Eastern Division championship for the fourth time in five years and finished second to Western Division champion Louisiana State in the overall conference race.
Auburn took a 2-0 first inning lead. Javon Moran singled with one out and moved to second base as Tug Hulett grounded to second base. Moran scored on a base hit by Bobby Huddleston. He scored when Clete Thomas dribbled a grounder in front of the plate and Gamecock catcher Landon Powell’s throw struck Thomas in the back for an error.
Karl Amonite, who reached base five times on three walks and two singles, walked with one out in the third inning. He raced to third on an error by Gamecock shortstop Justin Harris and scored on a fielder’s choice by Thomas.
The score remained 3-0 until the top of the ninth inning when Moran and Hulett singled off South Carolina relief pitcher Chris Hernandez. Moran raced to third and scored on an errant throw to third by left fielder Michael Campbell. Hulett scored on a sacrifice fly by Scott Schade.
In his post game comments South Carolina coach Ray Tanner said, “This game wasn’t hard to understand. It was Hughey all day. He pitched outstanding. Our guys tried hard. Hughey was just better than us today. We won nine out of ten before the tournament (one non-conference loss) and the three we played here were inconsistent.”
