Feb. 21, 2004
Columbia, S.C. – Seventh ranked South Carolina batted around in the second and fourth innings Saturday and recorded 20 hits, including three home runs and seven doubles, to rout UNC Wilmington 20-3 in the second game of a three game college baseball series.
The final game is scheduled for 1:30 p.m., Sunday at Sarge Frye Field. The Gamecocks’ record improved to 5-0 while UNCW dropped to 0-3.
Junior right-hander Aaron Rawl pitched six innings and allowed three hits and two earned runs to claim his second win of the season. He struck out four and walked one. Blake Cross (0-1) allowed six hits and seven earned runs in 2 1/3 innings to take the loss. He walked three and struck out two.
Landon Powell started the South Carolina second inning with his first home run of the season and also had a single in the inning as the Gamecocks sent 11 batters to the plate and scored six times. Powell drove in two runs.
Ten Gamecocks went to the plate in the fourth inning as South Carolina scored four times. The Gamecocks have batted around in seven innings over the first five games of the season. South Carolina also scored once in the third inning, twice in the fifth and eighth and five times in the seventh inning, missing another bat around by one batter.
Steve Pearce drove in four runs with three hits, including a double and his fourth home run, a three-run shot in the seventh inning. Davy Gregg also drove in four runs. He had three singles. Kevin Melillo had two doubles and a homer, his fourth, and drove in three runs. Bryan Triplett had three RBI with a pair of doubles and a sacrifice fly.
Ryan Mahoney had a double and scored three runs. Brendan Winn also scored three times and had one hit.
Among the substitutes that Coach Ray Tanner inserted in the game, Mark Stanley drove in two runs with a double and Nick Gardiner had an RBI single.
Three freshmen pitched an inning apiece for the Gamecocks. Harris Honeycutt struck out one, Heath Rollins allowed one hit and struck out two and Arik Hempy allowed a ninth inning home run to Matt Sutton and struck out two. Nine strikeouts and one walk by four South Carolina pitchers raided the Gamecock five game totals to 65 strikeouts and eight walks. South Carolina allowed five hits Saturday including the homer by Sutton and a double by Jonathan Batts.
The 20 hit attack raised the team batting average to .410 over the first five games.
