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March 5, 2007

Columbia, S.C. – The South Carolina baseball team sits at No. 2 in the nation in this week’s USA Today/ESPN coaches’ poll, moved up to No. 3 in the Baseball America Top 25 and remained No. 4 in the nation in the Collegiate Baseball Top 30 as both rankings were released on Monday afternoon. Rivals.com ranks the Gamecock No. 1 in the nation as well. South Carolina (10-1) returns to action on Tuesday evening vs. the College of Charleston (11-1) with first pitch set for 6 pm and the game played at Joe Riley Park. Live audio broadcast is available at uscsports.com with Tommy Moody and Tom Price calling the action.

Record: 10-1
4-0 in home games
2-1 in road games
4-0 in neutral games
2-0 vs. top 25 teams

Last Week: 2-0
Saturday 3/3 – at Clemson – W, 12-0
Sunday 3/4 – vs. Clemson – W, 3-2

TUESDAY PITCHING MATCHUP
South Carolina – Jay Brown, RHP, Jr. 2-0, 4.02 ERA, 18 K, 5 BB, 15.2 IP
College of Charleston – Jeff Beliveau, LHP, So. 1-0, 2.13 ERA, 14 K, 6 BB, 12.2 IP

QUICK RECAP
South Carolina and Clemson renewed their rivalry this weekend with the Gamecocks taking both contests on Saturday and Sunday … Carolina defeated the Tigers 12-0 in Clemson on Saturday and earned a 3-2 win on Sunday at Sarge Frye Field … The Gamecocks are now 16-14 in games played between both schools dating back to the 2000 season … The teams will meet again with two Wednesday contests in April … The April 11 contest is at Clemson with the April 18 game in Columbia.

WELCOME BACK
South Carolina assistant Coach Monte Lee is a familiar name to the College of Charleston. Lee played for the Cougars from 1996-99 and in 2005 was one of five players to be an inaugural member of the Wall of Fame for College of Charleston. Lee was a career .333 hitter and hit 22 home runs and had 150 RBI in his four-year career. Lee hit three home runs for College of Charleston at South Carolina on Feb. 6, 1999, a game the Gamecocks won 5-4 in at Sarge Frye Field.

WELCOME BACK II
South Carolina returns to Joe Riley Park two weeks after playing there in the Crab House Shootout hosted by The Citadel. Carolina defeated Liberty and Richmond and suffered its only loss of the season, a 7-6 defeat to The Citadel. The return to Charleston also brings back Low Country natives Mike Cisco, Reese Havens and Justin Smoak.

HONEYCUTT
Harris Honeycutt delivered with a top performance on the mound in Saturday’s win, limiting the Tigers to just two hits and combined with three other pitchers for a shutout in a 12-0 victory over Clemson … It was Carolina’s first shutout of the Tigers since 1986 and the first Gamecock shutout at Doug Kingsmore Stadium since 1974 … Honeycutt struck out seven batters in the win, took a no-hitter into the fifth inning and allowed just one Clemson player to reach third base … He improved his career record to 12-0 with the Gamecocks and has won all four starts this season … Second straight week he has combined with teammates for a shutout … Lowered his season ERA to 1.11.

DISHER
Junior Phil Disher continued his production at the plate for the Gamecocks with two solid games vs. the Tigers … Disher homered and drove in four runs in Saturday’s 12-0 win over the Tigers and added two more hits with two RBI in the 3-2 win on Sunday … He currently leads the team with a .429 batting average and has four homers and a team-high 19 RBI … He also currently holds a five-game hitting streak.

CISCO
Sophomore Mike Cisco pitched effectively in Sunday’s win over the Tigers … The sophomore limited Clemson to one run on five hits while working into the seventh inning … He is 1-0 on the year with a 3.20 ERA and has pitched a team-high 25.1 innings with 20 strikeouts and just three walks allowed.

ATWOOD
Sophomore Will Atwood pitched a scoreless ninth inning and picked up his first win of the year in Sunday’s 3-2 win over Clemson … Atwood has proved reliable out of the bullpen in four appearances with a 0.93 ERA and just eight hits allowed with no walks and eight strikeouts … The left-hander has pitched 9.2 innings this season.

MORE ON THE PITCHERS
The Gamecock pitching staff has been very effective in the first 11 games this season with the staff posting a team ERA of 2.16 in 100 innings of work … The staff has 100 strikeouts to just 26 walks and allowed just 75 hits and opponents only batting .208 on the year.

HITTERS
The South Carolina bats continue to be productive with the team batting at a .309 clip with 19 homers in 11 games played … Saturday’s 12-0 victory featured three home runs including James Darnell’s team-leading fifth homer as well as Disher’s third and Justin Smoak’s third home run.

DEFENSIVE SAVE
Captain Steven Reinhold has been a key ingredient to the Gamecocks success in the early season … Coming off the bench as a defensive replacement, Reinhold has played in nine games, all at center field and has been a productive pinch hitter and pinch runner as well … This season he is 1-for-1 with two runs scored, has been hit by two pitches and owned a sacrifice bunt … The bunt helped the Gamecocks score the winning run in Sunday’s game vs. Clemson.

MORE ON DEFENSE
The Gamecocks have continued their strong start defensively with a .985 fielding percentage in the first 11 games … Carolina has made just six errors and played six error-less games.

UP NEXT
Tuesday at College of Charleston (Joe Riley Park) – 6 pm
Friday – Brown – 7pm
Saturday – Brown – 4 pm
Sunday – Brown – 1:30 pm