Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
May 2, 2006
Columbia, S.C. – The 10th ranked South Carolina baseball team (32-12, 13-8 SEC) returns to the road on Wednesday for a non-conference game at Wofford (18-30, 4-17 SOCON) beginning at 7 pm at Russell C. King Field. Live audio broadcast is available at uscsports.com with Tommy Moody and Tom Price calling the action.
South Carolina leads the series history against Wofford 64-21-1 including a 22-0 record under head coach Ray Tanner. South Carolina defeated Wofford earlier this season 13-1 on March 28, 2006. This is the second meeting this year between the two schools.
Senior Michael Campbell and freshman Reese Havens drove in three runs apiece and five pitchers combined to limit Wofford to six hits as Carolina earned a 13-1 victory.
Dan Luczak, who relieved starter Harris Honeycutt after four innings, was credited with the win to improve his record to 2-0. Wofford starter Adam Wood, 0-2, was charged with the loss.
Senior outfielder Mark Stanley added a bases empty home run in the sixth inning, his first homer of the year and second of his career. Justin Smoak, Drew Martin and James Darnell also had runs batted in.
South Carolina collected 13 hits including a double and a triple by Trent Kline and doubles by Grinestaff, Andrew Crisp, Havens and Drew Martin. Campbell, Havens and Kline each had two hits.
PITCHING MATCHUP
South Carolina: Forrest Beverly, LHP, Jr. (5-2, 5.16 ERA, 52.1 IP, 47 K, 19 BB)
Wofford: TBA
SOUTH CAROLINA IN THE RANKINGS
South Carolina moved up in three of the four collegiate baseball rankings including a move to No. 10 in the latest Sports Weekly/ESPN coaches poll. Carolina is up two spots in Baseball America to No. 12, and also has the same ranking in the NCBWA Top 30. USC remained No. 19 in the Collegiate Baseball Top 30.
QUICK RECAP
South Carolina went 2-1 this past week winning the series vs. Mississippi State two games to one. Carolina currently owns a 32-12 record with a 13-8 mark in the SEC, tied for first place with Kentucky in the Eastern Division.
Sunday’s 9-7 extra-inning win improved the Gamecocks’ record to 4-1 in extra-inning games this year. Carolina rallied from three down in the bottom of the 11th inning with two outs as Jon Willard hit a pinch-hit three-run homer to tie the game followed up by a two-run game-winner by Michael Campbell.
SMOAK’EM
South Carolina freshman first baseman Justin Smoak is the SEC Freshman of the Week following his performance in the weekend series against Mississippi State. Smoak was 6-for-11 (.545) in the series including a 3-for-4 performance in Friday’s 11-5 win over the Bulldogs. Smoak recorded his first multi-homer game of his career and tied his career-high in hits in the six-run win over MSU. He has increased his home run total to 10 on the year and is now one short of the freshman school record set by Drew Meyer (11) in 2000.
Smoak is the third Gamecock this season to earn an SEC weekly honor. Andrew Cruse and Mike Cisco each earned SEC Pitcher of the Week in March and April respectively. Smoak is currently batting .290 (47-for-162) on the year with 10 HR and 31 RBI as well as a team-high 11 doubles. Smoak and Michael Campbell are the only members of the Carolina baseball team to start all 44 games this year.
CRISP HITTING
Freshman Andrew Crisp has been swinging the hot bat as of late with an 8-for-15 performance (.533) last week against Mississippi State. Adding to his 9-for-14 (.643) week at Kentucky, he has compiled 17 hits and a .581 batting average over the last six games. Crisp went 4-for-5 in Sunday’s win over the Bulldogs that tied his career-high in hits that he set last week at Kentucky. With starts in both right field and second base, Crisp has become one of the more versatile players in the lineup. He currently owns a 13-game hitting streak and is batting .380 on the year with four HR and 12 RBI in 32 games played/18 starts.
Three of those four HR have come over the last two weeks including a game-winner on April 14 vs. Ole Miss. His two-out RBI single in the top of the seventh inning also broke a 1-1 tie as Carolina defeated the Tigers of LSU 2-1 to sweep the series on April 2.
THE CISCO KID
Freshman RHP Mike Cisco had his best outing of his young career and earned SEC Pitcher of the Week in a 1-0 win over Ole Miss. Cisco worked eight innings, the longest stint of his career and allowed no runs on three hits while striking out eight batters to pick up the win.
Cisco is 5-1 with a 3.47 ERA and 49 strikeouts and just 13 walks allowed in 57 innings pitched. Opponents are only batting .213 against him. Four of his five wins are against SEC opponents.
TRACKING CAMPBELL
Senior OF Michael Campbell has been selected as the University of South Carolina 2005-06 Co-Male Athlete of the Year, announced on Monday, April 24 at the 2005-06 All Sports Banquet. Campbell earned the honors with football wide receiver Sidney Rice.
Campbell has been one of Carolina’s top hitters in SEC games with a .432 average (38-for-88) along with four HR, 23 runs scored and 25 RBI in 21 conference games. Campbell this season is batting .355 with four HR and 42 RBI along with a team-high 60 hits. He was 6-for-13 (.462) in the series against Mississippi State.
Over the weekend, Campbell set a school career record for at-bats, passing Mac White (1991-94) and now in first place with a total of 910. Campbell also moved up on the career hits list at USC and has 283 in his career, two shy of Drew Meyer (2000-02) for second place and 20 shy of the school record set by White (303). Campbell also moved closer to Landon Powell’s (2001-04) games played record. Campbell has played 244 career games with the Gamecocks and is seven short of Powell’s record of 251 games.
In addition, his assist from the outfield in a win over Clemson set a new Carolina school record for assists by an outfielder. He has three on the season and 22 in his career. The previous record was 20 held by Paul Hollins (1978-81).
Campbell is the most experienced player in Division I baseball with 244 games under his belt as well as 237 starts. Campbell is the leading returnee for Carolina in several offensive categories including batting average (.315), games played (64), at-bats (251), runs (56), hits (79), doubles (16), triples (5), home runs (8), runs batted in (42), slugging percentage (.514), hit by pitch (10) and stolen bases (8).
TRACKING Michael CampbellGames Played1. 251 Landon Powell 2001-02-03-042. 244 Michael Campbell 2003-04-05-06
At Bats1. 910 Michael Campbell 2003-04-05-06 SCHOOL RECORD
Hits (200 or more)1. 303 Mac White 1991-92-93-942. 285 Drew Meyer 2000-01-023. 283 Michael Campbell 2003-04-05-06
One Base Hits1. 209 Drew Meyer 2000-01-022. 198 Mac White 1991-92-93-943. 190 Michael Campbell 2003-04-05-06
Two Base Hits1. 67 Mac White 1991-92-93-942. 61 Landon Powell 2001-02-03-043. 53 Greg Morhardt 1982-83-844. 51 Mike Curry 1996-97-984. 51 Derick Urquhart 1995-96-97-986. 50 Michael Campbell 2003-04-05-06
Three Base Hits1. 12 Michael Campbell 2003-04-05-06 SCHOOL RECORD1. 12 Mac White 1991-92-93-941. 12 Bill Harley 1930-31-32
Runs Batted In1. 198 Mac White 1991-92-93-941. 198 Chris Boyle 1981-82-83-843. 193 Landon Powell 2001-02-03-044. 184 Hank Small 1972-73-74-755. 182 Jeff Parnell 1990-91-92-936. 180 Derick Urquhart 1995-96-97-986. 180 Ryan Bordenick 1995-96-97-988. 168 Michael Campbell 2003-04-05-068. 168 Garrett Carter 1985-86-87-888. 168 Charlie Aldrich 1985-86-87
Runs Scored1. 223 Derick Urquhart 1995-96-97-982. 215 Mike Curry 1996-97-983. 212 Drew Meyer 2000-01-024. 209 Mac White 1991-92-93-945. 182 Jeff Parnell 1990-91-92-936. 176 Landon Powell 2001-02-03-047. 174 Garrett Carter 1985-86-87-888. 168 Michael Campbell 2003-04-05-06
AT THE PLATE
South Carolina’s offense has been productive as of late with a total of 63 runs over the last seven games as well as 102 hits. The Gamecocks are batting .317 as a team on the year (491-for-1547) with 60 homers.
USC FLASHING THE GLOVE
South Carolina saw its phenomenal streak of error-less games end at 13 games on Sunday, April 16 when USC freshman second baseman James Darnell misplayed a ground ball in the third inning vs. Ole Miss.
The Gamecocks had handled 507 consecutive defensive chances, 370 putouts and 137 assists before committing their 17th error in 37 games. The errorless span covered 123 1/3 innings.
South Carolina is second in the nation with a .983 fielding percentage (1191 putouts, 409 assists, 27 errors). South Carolina has played 27 error-less games out of 44 this year.
HAVENS HITTING HIS STRIDE
Freshman shortstop Reese Havens has been productive at the plate as of late and is batting .288 (46-for-160) with 10 doubles. He hit a two-run homer in last Friday’s win vs. Mississippi State. Havens tied a season-high with three hits and a homer vs. The Citadel and a had a season-high three RBI in Saturday’s loss vs. Kentucky. He also had three hits including a game-winning RBI double in a 12-inning contest against Alabama. The freshman from Sullivan’s Island has fielded .967 (59 putouts, 116 assists, six errors) in his first year at shortstop for Carolina.
ATWOOD DELIVERS IN HIS STARTS
Freshman LHP Will Atwood made his first SEC start on Sunday vs. Mississippi State and finished with a no-decision. Atwood worked six innings and allowed just two runs on eight hits with four strikeouts.
Atwood earned a win vs. The Citadel on April 19 with 6.2 innings of four-hit ball allowing just one run. He is 3-0 on the year with a 3.29 ERA.
In only his second start of his career, Atwood worked a 5.2 innings and allowed just two runs on six hits with four strikeouts and no walk, earning a no-decision in a 3-2 loss to Clemson on April 5.
GRINESTAFF SWINGS THE BIG STICK
Junior OF Robbie Grinestaff leads the team in several offensive categories including home runs (12), RBI (44) and runs scored (40). He is batting .282 (44-for-156) with a slugging percentage of .564.
HURST LEADS THE WAY
Cheyne Hurst has provided a steady bat atop the Carolina lineup this year. Hurst is batting .312 (49-for-157) with nine doubles to go along with three HR and 26 RBI. He has been the leadoff hitter in 39 of 44 games played.
Hurst was 3-for-5 with a grand slam, three runs and five RBI in the 21-4 win over Florida. His five RBI against Florida is tied for the most by a Gamecock player in a game this year.
Hurst got off to a great start in his first career game at Carolina with a 5-for-6 performance in the 5-4 victory vs. Elon. Hurst was the first player since Steve Pearce last year vs. Niagara (2-26-05) to have five hits in one game.
BEVERLY BRIGHTENS UP THE DAY
Junior LHP Forrest Beverly has made a team-high 11 starts and is currently 5-2 with a 5.16 ERA. Beverly has pitched a team-high 52.1 innings and has struck out 47 while yielding just 19 walks. Beverly will start on Wednesday for Carolina.
