Feb. 20, 2006
Columbia, S.C. – South Carolina baseball returns to action this weekend with a three-game series vs. Duquesne at Sarge Frye Field beginning Friday, Feb. 24 with first pitch set for 3 p.m. USC and Duquesne will play at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 25 and Sunday, Feb. 26. Live audio and gametracker stats will be available at uscsports.com. Live video will also be available for Friday’s game. Carolina remained No. 13 in this week’s rankings from Baseball America and moved up one spot in Collegiate Baseball’s rankings to No. 16 this week.
Record: 5-1
5-1 in home games
0-0 in road games
0-0 vs. top 25 teams
Last Week: 3-0
Friday – 2/17 vs. Radford – W, 7-0
Saturday – 2/18 vs. Radford – W, 5-2
Sunday – 2/19 vs. Radford – W, 2-0
WEEKLY NOTES
ON THE MOUND
The USC pitching staff was outstanding over the weekend with two shutouts and were one out away from a third shutout in Saturday’s game … The Carolina pitching staff finished the weekend with a 0.67 ERA in 27 innings pitched and had 36 strikeouts and just seven walks allowed with 10 hits.
BEVERLY
Junior LHP Forrest Beverly won his second straight start in Sunday’s 2-0 win over Radford … Beverly limited the Highlanders to three hits and had six strikeouts and no walks in six innings pitched, the second longest outing of his career.
PELZER
Junior RHP Wynn Pelzer made his first appearance of the season in Saturday’s win … Pelzer worked four 2/3 innings and allowed no runs on three hits with a career-high eight strikeouts and one walk.
VALDES-FAULI
Senior RHP Shawn Valdes-Fauli made two appearances and earned two saves in Saturday and Sunday’s wins … Valdes-Fauli worked a perfect 1.1 innings to pick up both saves.
CISCO
Freshman RHP Mike Cisco also turned in his second straight perfect appearance with two perfect innings in Sunday’s win … Cisco struck out four batters and has six on the season.
MIDDLE RELIEF
USC also had a pair of solid performances out of the bullpen with senior RHP Andy Lambert and sophomore RHP Andrew Cruse picking up wins in relief … Lambert made his second straight middle relief appearance and delivered in Friday’s game with four innings of one-hit ball and five strikeouts and two walks … The hit that Lambert gave up on Friday was the only hit of the game for Radford.
A LITTLE MORE ON THE PITCHERS
The Carolina pitching staff has been tremendous in the first two weeks of action with a team ERA of 1.29 in 56 innings pitched (eight earned runs, 11 runs) and limiting teams to 3! 1 hits and 14 walks while striking out 60 batters … Beverly leads the way with his 2-0 record, a 2.45 ERA and 12 strikeouts and one walk in a team-high 11 innings pitched.
GRINESTAFF
Junior DH Robbie Grinestaff went 2-for-5 with two HR and five RBI in Friday’s 7-0 win over Radford, the first USC player to hit more than one home run in a game since Steve Pearce vs. Georgia Tech (6/5/05).
HURST
Junior OF Cheyne Hurst has a four-game hitting streak currently and is the team’s leading hitter after the first two weeks with a .455 batting average (10-for-22) as well as four runs scored.
GIESLER
Senior INF Neil Giesler has also hit safely in five of six games and is batting .365 (8-for-22) with two HR and five RBI … Giesler had a solo HR in Sunday’s 2-0 win over Radford.
WITH THE GLOVE
Carolina had a solid weekend with the glove as USC played all three games errorless … USC has a fielding percentage of .983 after six games.
FEBRUARY GAMES
South Carolina is now 64-2 (.970) in games played in the month of February dating back to the 2000 season …
CAMPBELL MOVES UP THE LIST
Senior OF Michael Campbell moved into ninth place all-time on the USC career games played list with 206 games … Campbell also moved into a tie for 10th place on the all-time list for hits with 225 in his career at Carolina.
UP NEXT
2/24 vs. Duquesne – 3 pm
2/25 vs. Duquesne – 1:30 pm
2/26 vs. Duquesne – 1:30 pm
