March 14, 2005

Columbia, S.C. – The South Carolina baseball team continues to climb up the national rankings as the Gamecocks move up to No. 2 in the lastest Collegiate Baseball poll released on Monday afternoon. Carolina remains No. 4 in the latest Baseball America rankings. South Carolina returns to action on Wednesday evening at 7 p.m. as the Gamecocks travel to Wofford for a non-conference tilt.

SOUTH CAROLINA BASEBALL NOTEBOOK

15-1
12-0 in home games
2-0 in road games
1-1 in neutral games
0-0 vs. top 25 teams

Last Week: 3-0
Wednesday – 3/9 vs. Charleston Southern – W, 1-0
Saturday – 3/12 at Clemson – W, 6-3
Sunday – 3/13 vs. Clemson – W, 6-5

WEEKLY NOTES:
South Carolina went 3-0 on the week including a weekend sweep in a two-game series with the Clemson Tigers … USC head coach Ray Tanner is now 15-14 as Gamecock head coach vs. the Tigers including victories in 13 of the last 22 games played between both schools going back to the 2000 season.

Senior RHP Aaron Rawl won Saturday’s away game at Doug Kingsmore Stadium … With the win, Rawl earned his 30th career victory becoming the ninth player in Carolina history to accomplish the feat … Rawl is tied for eighth on the All-Time Carolina Wins list with Mike Cook and is just one win shy of being tied for fifth place with three other former Carolina greats … Rawl went five 2/3 innings allowing two runs on seven hits to pick up the victory … The senior from Lexington, S.C. is 4-1 on the year with a 2.43 ERA in a team-high 29 2/3 innings.

Senior RHP Jason Fletcher worked the last three 1/3 innings of relief to pick up his first save of the season, his second of his career … Fletcher has allowed just one run in three appearances with a 2-0 record as well as one save out of the bullpen.

Junior RHP Brent Marsh also had two saves on the week and now has four on the year .. Marsh picked up a save in Wednesday’s 1-0 win over Charleston Southern as well as on Sunday vs. Clemson … Marsh has not allowed a run in six 2/3 innings pitched with eight strikeouts and one walk in that time period.

In Wednesday’s win over Charleston Southern, freshman RHP Wynn Pelzer made his first career start and was impressive in a career-high six innings pitched … Pelzer allowed just one hit, a single with two outs in the sixth inning and had three strikeouts as well.

Freshman RHP Andrew Cruse picked up two wins in relief for Carolina and is now 3-0 on the year … Cruse has pitched a team-high 14 1/3 innings of relief out of the bullpen with a 2.51 ERA.

Carolina’s pitching staff has been strong with a team ERA of 2.56 in 144 innings pitched as well as 133 strikeouts and just 32 walks allowed.

Senior OF Brendan Winn’s two-run HR in Saturday’s game broke a 2-2 tie and helped lift the Gamecocks to the victory … Winn has a team-high eight HR and 24 RBI this season as well as a current eight-game hitting streak … Winn had game-winning hits for Carolina in both Saturday and Sunday’s wins over the Tigers after missing his first career start on Wednesday against Charleston Southern due to a lower back strain.

Sophomore DH Jon Willard continues to lead the team in hitting with a .489 batting average as well as three HR and 12 RBI … … Also batting over .400 for Carolina is Steven Tolleson (.426) and Steve Pearce (.400) … Pearce had a two-run HR, his fourth of the year in Sunday’s 6-3 victory over Clemson.

South Carolina owns a team batting average of .340 with 26 HR in 16 games played this season and are averaging over eight runs a game … South Carolina has homered in 14 of 16 games this year … Steven Tolleson, Michael Campbell and Davy Gregg have started all 16 games for the Gamecocks this year.

South Carolina continues to play well in the field with a .979 fielding percentage through the first 16 games … Carolina opens up its 30-game SEC conference schedule on Friday hosting Arkansas … The first 15 games of the Gamecocks’ SEC schedule feature three teams that reached the College World Series (Arkansas, Georgia, LSU) as well as two teams that made the NCAA Super Regionals last year (Florida, Vanderbilt).

NEXT WEEK
Wednesday at Wofford – 7 p.m. ET
Friday vs. Arkansas – 7 p.m. ET
Saturday vs. Arkansas – 4 p.m. ET
Sunday vs. Arkansas – 1:30 p.m. ET