March 24, 2005

Columbia, S.C. – The South Carolina baseball team (18-3, 1-2 SEC) heads to Gainesville, Fla. this weekend for a three-game SEC series beginning on Friday night at 6:30 p.m. with Florida (17-6, 1-2 SEC). Carolina leads the all-time series 24-19 including five straight series victories dating back to the 2000 season.

PROBABLE WEEKEND ROTATION

Friday
South Carolina: Aaron Rawl, Sr. RHP (4-2, 2.86 ERA)
Florida: Bryan Ball, Jr. RHP (5-0, 1.54 ERA)

Saturday
South Carolina: Zac McCamie, Sr. RHP (5-0, 2.06 ERA)
Florida: Tommy Boss, Sr. RHP (3-1, 4.34 ERA)

Sunday
South Carolina: Jason Fletcher, Sr. RHP (2-0, 1.69 ERA)
Florida: Alan Horne Jr. RHP (1-2, 6.26 ERA)

SOUTH CAROLINA-FLORIDA
South Carolina is in Gainesville for a three game Southeastern Conference series with the Florida Gators. The South Carolina-Florida rivalry began in 1919 but the Gators didn’t become an annual opponent until South Carolina joined the SEC in 1992. South Carolina leads the series 24-19. Game times this weekend are 6:30 p.m., Friday, 4 p.m., Saturday and 1 o’clock on Sunday. South Carolina won two of three games against Florida last year at Sarge Frye Field. All three were decided by one run and two went extra innings. The Gamecocks won 5-4 in 10 innings on Friday, lost the Saturday game 9-8, and came back to win again in 10 innings Sunday, 7-6. Freshman left-hander Arik Hempy was the winning pitcher out of the bullpen in both of the wins.

WHAT’S NEXT
The Gamecocks will be busy during the coming week with five games on the schedule. Brown University of the Ivy League comes to Sarge Frye Field Tuesday night. South Carolina and Brown have played only once previously, a 7-3 Gamecock win in 1967 under Coach Jack Powers. South Carolina travels to Charleston for a Wednesday night game at The Citadel. The Gamecocks lead The Citadel series 110-43-1. Carolina resumes Southeastern Conference play Friday-Sunday with a three game set with the Georgia Bulldogs at Sarge Frye Field. The Gamecocks lead the Georgia series 43-36, but the Bulldogs won two of tree last year in Athens when Georgia won the SEC regular season championship.

POLLS
South Carolina dropped a few spots in the national polls after losing the first Southeastern Conference series to Arkansas two games to one, but the Gamecocks are still ranked among the top ten. South Carolina dropped from second to sixth in the Collegiate Baseball poll and from fourth to ninth in the Baseball America rankings. In the ESPN/Baseball Weekly poll the Gamecocks dropped from third to sixth. The Gamecocks began the week with a 17-3 record.