April 4, 2005

Columbia, S.C. – The South Carolina baseball team is ranked fourth in the Sports Weekly/ESPN Coaches Poll, remains ranked 10th by Collegiate Baseball and moved up two spots to 12th in the latest Baseball America poll following a 5-0 week that included wins over Brown and The Citadel as well as a three-game sweep vs. Georgia. Carolina is now 24-5 on the year and 5-4 in the SEC.

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA

Record: 24-5
SEC Record: 5-4
18-2 in home games
5-2 in road games
1-1 in neutral games
2-4 vs. top 25 teams

Last Week: 5-0
Tuesday – 3/29 vs. Brown – W, 7-2
Wednesday – 3/30 at The Citadel – W, 4-2
Friday – 4/1 vs. Georgia – W, 7-5
Saturday – 4/2 vs. Georgia – W, 17-2
Sunday – 4/3 vs. Georgia – W, 6-1

WEEKLY NOTES: South Carolina went 5-0 this past week with non-conference wins vs. Brown and at The Citadel as well as a three-game sweep of the Georgia Bulldogs … The win moved Carolina to 5-4 in the SEC and one game behind the Florida Gators and Alabama Crimson Tide for first place in the conference … Carolina has now swept the Bulldogs of Georgia in 2000, 2003 and 2005 and are 15-4 in the last 19 meetings with Georgia …. USC leads the all-time series vs. Georgia 46-36.

South Carolina’s 4-2 win at The Citadel was played in front of a record-setting crowd of 5,803 fans at Riley Park, the largest attendance in the history of the Citadel.

Junior infielder Chris Brown owns a team-high 12-game hitting streak and is batting .358 on the year with four HR and 20 RBI … Junior outfielder Michael Campbell has a career best 11-game hitting streak and is batting .360 with a team-high 28 runs scored … Campbell and infielder Steven Tolleson have started all 29 games played by South Carolina … Jon Willard leads the Gamecocks in hitting with a .418 batting average and has hit safely in 24 of 27 games … Senior Steve Pearce had three HR on the week with one vs. Brown and a pair in two games vs. Georgia … Junior outfielder Mark Stanley went 3-for-4 (career-high hits) with two runs and two RBI in Saturday’s victory over Georgia as well as 2-for-3 in Sunday’s game.

South Carolina’s pitching staff continues to impress this season with a team ERA of 2.68 and a 24-5 record … The Gamecock pitchers have 258 strikeouts and just 77 walks allowed in 259 innings pitched … Senior RHP Jason Fletcher worked five 2/3 innings of relief and allowed just one infield hit and no runs with five strikeout to pick up his third win of the year in Friday’s 7-5 win over Georgia … Senior RHP Zac McCamie worked seven innings and allowed two runs on two hits with nine strikeouts to tie a season-high in Carolina’s 17-2 win over Georgia … McCamie is now 6-1 on the year with a 2.27 ERA and 54 strikeouts and 14 walks in a team-high 47 2/3 innings … Sophomore RHP Jeff Jeffords earned his first career victory in Sunday’s 6-1 win over Georgia … Jeffords hurled a season-high five 2/3 innings with six strikeouts and one run allowed on three hits … The sophomore also came on in relief vs. Brown and pitched five scoreless innings yielding just one hit … In nine appearances this year, Jeffords has a ERA of 0.52 with 21 strikeouts in 17 1/3 innings pitched … Freshman RHP Andrew Cruse earned his first career save with three innings of scoreless work in Sunday’s win … Cruse is 3-0 with a 2.49 ERA on the year.

Carolina will host The Citadel on Wednesday night before traveling to Baton Rouge, La. for a three-game series against LSU at Alex Box Stadium.

NEXT WEEK

Wednesday vs. The Citadel – 7 p.m. ET
Friday at LSU – 6:30 p.m. CT
Saturday at LSU – 2 p.m. CT
Sunday at LSU – Noon CT