May 12, 2006
Columbia, S.C. – Kelly Edmundson hit a two run homer and Michael Rivera also drove in two runs Friday night and Tennessee edged South Carolina 5-4 in the first game of a Southeastern Conference baseball series before 3,812 fans at Sarge Frye Field.
The second game is scheduled for noon EDT, Saturday and will be televised nationally by ESPN with Mark Neely and Kyle Peterson calling the action. The game will also be available throughout South Carolina on the Gamecock Radio Network with Mike Morgan and Tommy Moody.
Craig Cobb pitched eight innings for Tennessee to improve his record to 9-2 and Sean Watson worked the ninth to earn his 10th save. Wynn Pelzer pitched South Carolina’s first complete game of the season but took the loss. His record fell to 4-3.
Tennessee improved to 29-20 overall and 10-14 in the SEC while South Carolina dropped to 33-17, 13-12.
South Carolina scored single runs in the second and third innings to lead 2-0 until Tennessee tallied three sixth inning runs on four hits, one of them a fly ball lost in the lights. Chris Kemp doubled with one out and J. P. Arencibia drove him home with a single. Ryan Jones walked and two runs scored when Gamecock center fielder Michael Campbell lost Rivera’s fly ball in the lights and it fell for a base hit.
Edmundson hit his fifth home run after a single by Jones to make the score 5-2 in the top of the eighth. South Carolina got two runs back in the bottom of the inning on three hits and a Vol error.
South Carolina threatened in the bottom of the ninth but left two runners on base as the game ended. Campbell smashed a single off Watson’s body with one out. After medical attention Watson retired Andrew Crisp on a fly ball and walked Neil Giesler but Drew Martin forced Campbell at third for the final out.
Each team had 10 hits with Arencibia and Edmundson collecting two each for Tennessee. Trent Kline had three hits, including a double, for South Carolina. Giesler and Justin Smoak had two hits. One of Giesler’s was a double and Smoak drove in two runs. Crisp had a single to extend his hitting streak to 19 games.
Scheduled starting pitchers for the Saturday game are freshman right-hander Mike Cisco, 5-2, for South Carolina and sophomore left-hander James Adkins for Tennessee.
