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March 1, 2007
Columbia, S.C. – One of college baseball’s most historic rivalries renews on the diamond this weekend when the South Carolina Gamecocks (8-1) and Clemson Tigers (7-1) face off in a two-game series. Both schools rank among the top 5 teams in the nation. Saturday’s game at Clemson starts at 2 pm with Sunday’s contest in Columbia at Sarge Frye Field scheduled for 1:30 pm ET. Both games can be heard on the Gamecock Radio Network and live at uscsports.com with gametracker stats for both games also available. Dating back to the 2000 season, both teams own 14 victories in the series. The teams will also meet two more times in April in Wednesday night contests.
SARGE FRYE TRIBUTE
Sunday’s home game vs. the Tigers will feature a tribute to Sarge Frye, former groundskeeper who the baseball stadium was named after on May, 11 1980.
Weldon B. “Sarge” Frye came to the University of South Carolina in 1953 after retiring as a master sergeant in the U.S. Army. A combat veteran of World War II and the Korean Conflict, Frye participated in the Allied Invasion of Europe, was wounded in action and decorated with the Bronze Star. He received a second Bronze Star in Korea.
He was placed in charge of athletic facilities and his duties were soon expanded to include supervision of grounds for the entire campus. After 45 years of service, he officially retired in July of 1997 but remained on board to supervise maintenance of athletic facilities. Frye passed away on September 3, 2003 after a half of century of service to Gamecock Athletics. Sarge Frye is synonymous with the words dedication, loyalty and hard work.
Fans are encouraged to log on to uscsports.com to visit the Sarge Frye Field Farwell page located on the main page and baseball page. Fans can vote on the greatest moments, greatest players and blog with their favorite memories at Sarge Frye Field.
QUICK RECAP FROM LAST WEEK
South Carolina swept a weekend series at home vs. Eastern Michigan with a 6-0 win last Friday, Feb. 23 and two wins in a doubleheader on Saturday, Feb. 24, 8-5 and 5-1 vs. the Eagles. Friday’s win was the second shutout of the year for the Gamecocks with Saturday’s first game featuring a two-out bottom of the ninth inning grand slam homer from Phil Disher.
WHAT A CROWD!
South Carolina’s first home weekend featured tremendous crowds at Sarge Frye Field with 4,876 fans at the opener and 5,610 for Saturday’s doubleheader. The doubleheader included over 1,000 walk-up tickets sold.
ON THE ROAD WITH THE GAMECOCKS
Despite the first two weekends on the road, the Gamecocks had quite a contingent of fans on the road in Wilmington, N.C. and Charleston, S.C. Garnet and black-clad people were everywhere in both towns as the Gamecocks drew 14,959 fans in their first six games including 5,055 at The Citadel, a majority of which were Gamecock fans.
THIS WEEK IN THE RANKINGS
For the second consecutive week, South Carolina is ranked No. 4 in the nation in both the Baseball America and Collegiate Baseball rankings announced on Monday. The NCBWA (National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association) has Carolina at No. 2 in the country.
HONEYCUTT CONTINUES SUCCESS ON THE MOUND
Junior right-handed pitcher Harris Honeycutt continues to shine on the mound for the Gamecocks with a seven-inning scoreless performance in the 6-0 victory of the series opener vs. Eastern Michigan. Honeycutt allowed just three hits and struck out nine batters in the win. He is now 11-0 in his career with the Gamecocks and 3-0 this season. Honeycutt combined with Blake Cooper and Nick Fuller for South Carolina’s second shutout of the season.
He will make his first career start vs. the Tigers on Saturday. He had one appearance last season in the April 12 game vs. Clemson.
DISHER GETS OFF TO SOLID START
Coming of a strong end to the 2006 season, junior designated hitter Phil Disher has picked up where he left off with a .424 batting average to start the year. His second career grand slam lifted the Gamecocks to last Saturday’s 8-5 win over Eastern Michigan. Disher has three home runs and a team-high 13 RBI to go along with four doubles and nine runs scored. Disher was 2006 NCAA Regional MVP in Charlottesville, Va.
CHISENHALL CONTINUES HIS HOT START
Freshman Lonnie Chisenhall had hit safely in eight straight games before being shut out in the series finale vs. the Eagles. Chisenhall is batting .405 (17-for-42) this season with four doubles, two triples, a homer and 10 RBI on the year. Seven of the nine games this year, Chisenhall has tallied at least two hits.
After a strong opening weekend in Wilmington, N.C. Chisenhall was named SEC Freshman of the Week. At the season-opening tournament, Chisenhall hit .500 (7-for-14) with three runs, a homer and seven RBI and also tied two single game school records in a win over Western Kentucky with two triples and two sacrifice flies. He became only the 13th player in school history to have two triples in one game and the first since Steven Tolleson did it in 2005.
Chisenhall was part of Carolina’s heralded recruiting class and was ranked the top freshman in the nation by Baseball America.
THE GAMECOCKS IN THE MONTH OF FEBRUARY
Carolina has a near perfect record over the last seven seasons in the month of February. Dating back to the 2000 season, Carolina is 75-3 (.962) in games played in the month of February. The three losses came against Charleston Southern in 2003 , vs. Elon in 2006 and The Citadel, this season.
HOT AT THE PLATE
The South Carolina offense has a .314 batting average with 16 homers in nine games including three this past weekend. James Darnell continues to lead the team with four homers with Phil Disher with three and Drew Martin and Justin Smoak with two apiece.Nine different players have at least one home run already this season for Carolina. Six of nine games have seen the Gamecock offense pound out at least 10 hits.
STEADY ON THE MOUND
The Carolina pitching staff has been tremendous in the first nine games with a team ERA of 2.41 in 82 innings pitched. The squad has 88 strikeouts to just 20 walks allowed and 65 hits yielded. 13 different pitchers have seen action this season already.
FLASHING THE LEATHER
South Carolina continues to boast one of the top defensive teams in all of college baseball as the Gamecocks sit in second in the SEC in fielding percentage, nine games into the season. After setting a school record for fielding last year, the Gamecocks are off to another solid start defensively with a .985 percentage and just five errors with five error-less contests this season.
DARNELL DELIVERS
Sophomore infielder James Darnell struck with the hot bat in Charleston at the Crab House Shootout, batting .400 with a two-run homer in all three games and six RBI overall. He is batting .308 this year with four HR and eight RBI to go along with 11 walks.
SMOAK’EM
Sophomore first baseman Justin Smoak showed off his power in game two of the Eastern Michigan doubleheader with a solo homer in the 5-1 victory. Smoak has two HR and six RBI on the year and leads the SEC following the first three weekends with 12 walks. His on-base percentage is .435.
THE CISCO KID
Sophomore right-hander Mike Cisco had his third straight solid start and picked up his first win of year in Saturday’s 5-1 win over EMU. Cisco worked 6.2 innings and allowed just one run on five hits while striking out nine batters. Cisco leads the team with 18.2 innings pitched and owns a 3.86 ERA with 18 strikeouts.
YOUNG ARMS PROVIDING DEPTH
Freshmen Blake Cooper and Nick Fuller have each started off strong in their first year with the Gamecocks with both not allowing a run in three appearances apiece. They both followed Harris Honeycutt and helped lead the Gamecocks to a 6-0 win over EMU.
JUNIOR COLLEGE TRANSFERS ALSO MAKING IMPACT ON THE MOUND
Carolina’s junior college transfers are also finding success on the hill. Junior right-hander Jordan Costner has not allowed an earned run in three appearances, junior right-hander Curtis Johnson picked up a save in Wilmington vs. the Seahawks and Nick Godwin has a scoreless inning of work to his slate from the win over Western Kentucky. Another junior college transfer seeing early action is junior right-hander Sean Wideberg.
A QUICK RELIEF WITH ATWOOD
Junior left-hander Will Atwood has had three straight solid outings out of the bullpen to start the year. Atwood had three scoreless innings of work in Carolina’s come-from-behind win over Eastern Michigan. Atwood is 0-0 with a 1.04 ERA in 8.2 innings and just one run allowed.
JONES GETS IT GOING
Whether at the top or bottom of the order, junior second baseman Travis Jones has found his way on base in the early going for Carolina. Jones is batting .324 with a .435 on-base percentage and has scored eight runs in the first nine games.
