April 14, 2006
Columbia, S.C. – Freshman right-hander Mike Cisco, with ninth inning help from Wynn Pelzer, bested Ole Miss left-hander Craig Rodriguez in a 1-0 pitcher’s duel Friday night as South Carolina won the first of a three game Southeastern Conference baseball series before 4,055 fans at Sarge Frye Field.
Cisco allowed only three base runners in eight plus innings, a one out third inning double by Justin Brasher, a leadoff single in the seventh inning by C. J. Ketchum, and a leadoff single in the ninth by Evan Button in improving his record to 5-0.
After the Button hit opening the ninth inning, Pelzer came on in relief and forced Button at second on an attempted sacrifice bunt by Justin Henry. Pelzer then struck out Ketchum and fell down while fielding a grounder by Chris Laughlin. He threw Laughlin out while sitting on the mound to end the game that was played in an hour and 50 minutes.
Pelzer earned his third save of the season as South Carolina improved its record to 28-7 overall and an Eastern Division leading 10-3 in the Southeastern Conference. Rodriguez pitched a complete game and allowed only five hits and one walk but saw his record evened at 1-1. Ole Miss dropped to 20-14, 6-7 in the SEC’s Western Division.
Crisp, a redshirt freshman, homered over the left field fence to lead off the bottom of the third inning. South Carolina’s only other base runners were a pair of singles by catcher Ian Paxton and singles by Reese Havens and Michael Campbell. Robbie Grinestaff received the only base on balls in the game. Two Gamecock base runners were wiped out by double plays and South Carolina left only three runners on base. Ole Miss also had three left on base.
Both teams played errorless baseball. For South Carolina, it was the Gamecocks’ 12th consecutive errorless game and 23 errorless contests in 35 games. South Carolina has handled 458 consecutive fielding chances, 335 putouts and 123 assists, spanning 111 2/3 innings since a third inning error March 14 in the first game of the Florida series.
In improving his record to 5-0, Cisco lowered his earned run average to 2.56 in 45 2/3 innings. He struck out eight. Three of his five wins have been against Southeastern Conference opponents.
The second game of the series is scheduled for 4 p.m., ET Saturday at Sarge Frye Field with junior left-hander Forrest Beverly, 5-2, the scheduled South Carolina starter. Mississippi will start freshman left-hander Brett Bukvich, 3-3.
The Saturday game will be broadcast by the Gamecock Radio Network with Mike Morgan and Tommy Moody on the call. It will also be televised as the SEC game of the week by Fox Sports Net South with Dave Neal and Larry Conley handling the commentary.
