March 12, 2005
Columbia, S.C. – Brendan Winn’s two-run homer in the sixth inning broke a 2-2 tie and senior RHP Aaron Rawl went five 2/3 innings to pick up his fourth win of the season as fourth ranked South Carolina defeated Clemson 6-3 on Saturday afternoon at Doug Kingsmore Stadium. The win improves Carolina to 14-1 on the year while the loss drops Clemson to 5-6.
Rawl allowed two runs on seven hits with three strikeouts and three walks to improve to 4-1 on the year. Senior Jason Fletcher pitched the final three 1/3 innings of the game to earn his first save of the year and second of his career. Clemson’s Josh Cribb went five 1/3 innings allowing four runs on eight hits to suffer the loss. He is now 1-1 on the year.
Clemson went ahead 1-0 in the first inning of play. Taylor Harbin had a one-out RBI infield single and scored on a two-out RBI double to left field by Tiger first baseman Kris Harvey. Carolina quickly tied the game at one in the top of the second inning. Michael Campbell led off with a double to left center and scored on a sharp hit single up the middle by Winn, who returned to the lineup after missing a start on Wednesday due to a lower back strain.
South Carolina took a 2-1 lead in the third inning on two-out solo home run from Chris Brown, his first of the season. Brown drilled a first pitch fast ball just to the right of the foul pole in left field to give the Gamecocks one-run cushion.
Tied at 2-2 in the sixth inning the Gamecocks regained the lead with a one-out two-run homer by Winn. On the first pitch from Cribb, Winn launched a deep shot to left center for his eighth home run of the season.
Carolina added two more runs in the seventh inning to increase the lead to four as Michael Campelll doubled for the second time to score Tommy King and Cory Vanderhook drew a two-out bases loaded walk to score Mark Stanley. Clemson crept to within three runs in the bottom of the half on a two-out solo homer by Travis Storrer.
Brown, Campbell, Winn, Jon Willard and Tommy King all had two hits to pace the Gamecock offense. Winn led the Gamecocks with three RBI. Harbin, Harvey and Stan Widmann each had two hits for Clemson.
South Carolina and Clemson continue the two-game set on Sunday afternoon at Sarge Frye Field in Columbia with first pitch set for 1:36 p.m. Senior RHP Zac McCamie (4-0, 2.05 ERA) will start for Carolina with junior RHP Kris Harvey (2-0, 5.17 ERA) on the mound for the Tigers. The game is sold out and will be televised on CSS-TV. Live Gametracker stats and live audio will also be available on www.uscsports.com and the game will be broadcast on the South Carolina Radio Network with Mike Morgan and Tommy Moody calling the action.
