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June 8, 2006
Columbia, S.C. – South Carolina (40-23) makes its sixth appearance in seven years in the NCAA Super Regional when the Gamecocks meet Georgia (45-20) beginning on Saturday at Foley Field in Athens. Saturday’s opener is set for 11 am and will be televised on ESPN2. The Sunday game time is 4 pm with the game broadcast on ESPN/ESPNU. The Monday “if necessary” game is scheduled for 1 pm on ESPN/ESPNU.
Carolina enters the weekend fresh off winning a regional championship last week at Charlottesville, Va. Carolina and Georgia have never met in the NCAA Tournament play in history. USC leads the all-time series 46-40 despite four losses earlier in the year to the Bulldogs. Georgia swept a weekend series in Athens in early May with wins of 8-4, 7-5 and 7-4. Georgia also defeated Carolina 16-10 at the SEC Tournament in Hoover, Ala. The Bulldogs rallied from an early nine-run deficit to come back and defeat the Gamecocks at the SEC Tournament.
South Carolina and Georgia are two of four SEC teams left in tournament play. The winner of the super regional guarantees the SEC a team in Omaha, Neb. at the College World Series for the 14th straight year. Alabama hosts North Carolina and Ole Miss hosts Miami (Fla.).
Live audio broadcast is available on the Gamecock Radio Network including 103.1 FM and 1320 AM in Columbia. The game can also be heard on uscsports.com. Mike Morgan, Tommy Moody and Tom Price call the action. Also available are live gametracker stats.
PROBABLE WEEKEND STARTERS
Saturday
South Carolina: Harris Honeycutt, RHP, So. (6-0, 2.88 ERA, 59.1 IP, 60 K, 28 BB)
Georgia: Mickey Westphal, LHP, Sr. (7-1, 4.45 ERA, 87.0 IP, 41 K, 18 BB)
Sunday
South Carolina: Mike Cisco, RHP, Fr. (7-4, 3.57 ERA, 85.2 IP, 71 K, 22 BB)
Georgia: Brooks Brown, RHP, Jr. (7-4, 4.17 ERA, 99.1 IP, 111 K, 38 BB)
SOUTH CAROLINA IN THE POSTSEASON
The South Carolina baseball team, including with the 2006 NCAA Tournament holds an all-time postseason record of 83-47 (.638) and is in the school’s 22nd appearance in the postseason. Carolina has reached the NCAA Super Regionals six of the last seven years (2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006) and earned three trips to the College World Series in the last four seasons (2002, 2003, 2004). Carolina is one of only three teams in the nation to reach a NCAA Super Regional in six of the last seven seasons (dating back to 2000). The only other teams to do that are Miami (Fla.) with seven and Florida State with six.
Carolina has eight College World Series appearances (1975, 1977, 1981, 1982, 1985, 2002, 2003, 2004) in school history with three national runner-up finishes (1975, 1977, 2002).
This year’s Super Regional at Georgia is the second time that USC is on the road for the Super Regional. Carolina traveled to Stanford for the NCAA Super Regional in 2001. The other four previous Super Regionals were at Sarge Frye Field in Columbia (2000, 2002, 2003, 2004).
RECAPPING THE CHARLOTTESVILLE REGIONAL
South Carolina earned a spot in the 64-team field of the 2006 NCAA Baseball Tournament making its seventh straight appearance and the eighth under head coach Ray Tanner. The Gamecocks are one of eight teams from the SEC to play in the 2006 NCAA Championships and one of four schools from the state of South Carolina to make the field. Carolina’s streak of seven consecutive NCAA bids is the longest current streak among the 12 SEC schools (2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006).
South Carolina 4; Evansville 2
USC opened the weekend in Charlottesville, Va. with a 4-2 win over Evansville. Freshman right-hander Mike Cisco hurled his first career complete game and Justin Smoak and Trent Kline each doubled twice to help lift Carolina to the win.
“Being a freshman and pitching in my first-ever regional was pretty exciting,” said Cisco. “I just tried to go out and put my team in a good situation to win the game. My stuff was working, I had a good curve and I was spotting up using both sides of the plate.”
South Carolina 8; Virginia 2
Phil Disher hit a grand slam home run in the bottom of the third inning and sophomore right-hander Harris Honeycutt did not allow an earned run in six innings of work as South Carolina defeated Virginia 8-2 in the winner’s bracket game on Saturday evening.
Honeycutt gave the Gamecocks a solid outing in his six-inning performance as he yielded just five hits and limited the Cavaliers to one run while striking out five batters. He is now 6-0 this season. Sophomore right-hander Andrew Cruse relieved Honeycutt and picked up a save with three innings of work allowing one run on three hits with four strikeouts. Cruse has three saves this year.
After two scoreless innings, the Gamecocks stormed out to a 5-0 lead in the third inning. Ian Paxton opened the frame with a single to right field and advanced to second base on the Cheyne Hurst sacrifice bunt. Paxton would score the first USC run on a two-out RBI single from Chris Brown that saw Brown advanced to second base on a fielding error by Virginia right fielder Brandon Marsh. With Brown on second and Reese Havens on third base, Virginia elected to intentionally walk Justin Smoak to load the bases and set the stage for designated hitter Phil Disher. On Doolittle’s first pitch, Disher launched a towering shot to left center field for his first career grand slam that put the Gamecocks ahead by five runs. It was Carolina’s fifth grand slam of the season.
Evansville 15; South Carolina 5
Evansville scored 12 times in the bottom of the third inning with five hits, and took advantage of six walks, four errors and a hit batter on its way to a 15-5 victory over South Carolina in the NCAA Charlottesville Regional.
Evansville starting pitcher Mitch Prout would earn the win as he went 6.2 innings and allowed five runs on eight hits. He is 2-1 on the year. Carolina starting pitcher Forrest Beverly suffered the loss and is now 6-3 this season. He went 2.1 innings and allowed eight runs, two earned, on four hits with one strikeout and two walks.
South Carolina 5; Evansville 1
Behind a complete game pitching performance by Wynn Pelzer and with the help of Phil Disher’s three-run homer, South Carolina defeated Evansville 5-1 to capture the NCAA Charlottesville Regional championship and advance to the NCAA Super Regional. Disher earned tournament MVP honors and homered three times with 10 RBI throughout the four games this weekend.
“It would be an understatement to say that I’m extremely proud of our players for bouncing back from the shellacking yesterday to come back and win the Regional and move on to the Super Regional,” said South Carolina head coach Ray Tanner. “We needed a guy like Wynn Pelzer out there tonight to get the win today. I thought he pitched very well today. We had to get what we could out of him today and he came out and did a super job.”
Pelzer’s complete game was his second of the year. He went nine innings and allowed one run on eight hits while striking out nine batters to improve to 5-4 this season. Kai Tuomi, the starting pitcher for Evansville, suffered the loss and is 6-2 this year. He lasted only 2.1 innings and allowed three runs on four hits.
ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM AT REGIONAL
Five different Gamecock players including tournament MVP Phil Disher were named to the All-Tournament Team. Also on the team were Pelzer, starting pitcher Mike Cisco, second baseman Chris Brown and third baseman Neil Giesler. Disher made the team as designated hitter.
The All-Tournament team in the NCAA Regional was the second team that Cisco has made. He also earned All-Tournament honors at the SEC Tournament after a win vs. Kentucky.
GAMECOCKS A HIT
South Carolina finished the regular season leading the SEC in hitting in the conference game category. The team’s .313 (337-for-1077) clip was the best in the 30 SEC games played by all schools this year.
Michael Campbell finished the conference games as the SEC leader in hitting with a .409 average (47-for-115) with Andrew Crisp also in the top 10 with a .383 average (36-for-94).
Carolina’s season average of .306 (677-for-2215) is currently fourth among all 12 school in all games played. The .306 average is the highest a Carolina team has been since the 2002 team ended the year with a .315 mark.
SMOAK’EM
South Carolina first baseman Justin Smoak is making his case for freshman All-American status as he is on a tear as of late raising his season batting average to .306 (71-for-232) with 16 HR and 61 RBI. Both the 16 homers and 61 RBI are USC freshman records. Smoak has hit 13 of his 16 homers as well against SEC opponents with three against Georgia. Smoak’s 16 homers bested the previous record of 11 set by Drew Meyer in 2000. He was named to the SEC All-Freshman team team.
Smoak also has a three-double performance this year vs. Furman earlier in May that tied a USC single-game record. The freshman from Goose, Creek, S.C. earned SEC Freshman of the Week following his performance in the series against Mississippi State. Smoak was 6-for-11 (.545) in that 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.
Smoak is one of three Gamecocks 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. He is the only member of the team to start all 63 games this year.
PELZER – THE BOSS/EARNS NATIONAL TEAM NOD
When James Brown’s song “The Boss” hits the speakers at Sarge Frye Field, it means only one thing, sophomore RHP Wynn Pelzer is entering the game. The sophomore right-hander also is one of 20 players to be invited to the USA Baseball National Team Trials to be held June 22-July 1 in exhibition games played against teams in the New England Collegiate League. The USA Baseball National Team will be selected from a pool of 36 players, of which an additional 16 have yet to be determined. The official 22-man team roster will be announced on July 2. Head coach for this year’s national team is Tim Corbin of Vanderbilt. Pezler earned second team All-SEC honors as a relief pitcher.
Pelzer’s second career complete game vs. Evansville clinched the regional championship for Carolina on Monday night. He struck out a career-high nine batters and yielded just one walk in the win over the Purple Aces.
Pelzer hurled his first career complete game in a 5-4 loss to Tennessee on Friday night. He made his first start vs. an SEC team this year on Friday April 28 in the 11-5 win over the Bulldogs. Pelzer won and limited MSU to two runs on five hits in 8.1 innings.
On the year, Pelzer is 5-4 with a 3.63 ERA as well as 63 strikeouts in 74.1 innings of work. He has allowed just 30 runs on 55 hits on the year and has four wins and four saves vs. SEC teams.
THE CISCO KID
Freshman RHP Mike Cisco has turned in a pair of career best outings in the last two weeks. Saturday he got the Gamecocks off to a good start with his first career complete game in a 4-2 win over Evansville. Last week when he limited Kentucky to one run on three hits in eight innings of work as USC earned a 4-2 win over UK at the SEC Baseball Tournament. He was honored on both the SEC and NCAA All-Tournament teams.
Cisco had another solid outing in April when he earned SEC Pitcher of the Week in a 1-0 win over Ole Miss. Cisco worked eight innings in that game as well, and allowed no runs on three hits while striking out a career-high eight batters to pick up the win.
Cisco is 7-4 with a 3.57 ERA and 71 strikeouts and just 22 walks allowed in 85.2 innings pitched. Opponents are only batting .226 against him. Five of his seven wins are against SEC opponents.
DISHER DRIVES THEM IN
South Carolina sophomore Phil Disher has found his way into the lineup as the starting designated hitter and has delivered in a big way as tournament MVP at the NCAA Regional over the week. Disher had three homers and 10 RBI over the weekend and provided the Gamecocks with a boost of power. He heads into the Super Regional with homers in three consecutive games.
His three-run homer was key in the 5-1 regional-clincher over Evansville and he hit his first career grand slam in the win over Virginia. Disher has all five of his homers in the last eight games he has played. He is currently batting .275 in 25 games played/12 starts and has 16 RBI this year. He has also pitched twice out of the bullpen.
HONEYCUTT CONTRIBUTES ON THE MOUND
Sophomore RHP Harris Honeycutt is 6-0 and coming off one of his best performances of his career with six innings of work against Virginia. He also had a top-notch performance at Vanderbilt Honeycutt worked a career-high eight innings and allowed just three runs in a 6-3 victory over the Commodores. In addition, he recently struck out a career-high 11 batters in a 12-3 win over The Citadel.
He made his first SEC start of his career vs. Ole Miss and worked 5.2 innings. Honeycutt is 6-0 with a 2.88 ERA and has 60 strikeouts and 28 walks in 59.1 innings pitched.
BROWN IS BACK
Coming off a heal injury, senior INF Chris Brown stepped up and earned All-Tournament honors last week at the NCAA Regional. Brown was especially key in the win over Evansville reaching base four times, with two hits, two walks and scored twice in the Gamecock clincher. Brown leads the team in on-base percentage (.470) and is batting .358 on the year.
Brown had a stellar week at the plate in the SEC opening series at Auburn as well as he went .526 (10-for-19) in five games with five RBI and seven runs scored. Brown was 4-for-5, tying his career-high in hits in the 7-3 win vs. the Tigers. He also had three hits in the 12-8 SEC opener vs. Auburn.
