March 9, 2007
Columbia, S.C. – South Carolina scored six runs in both the first and eighth innings and behind three doubles from Harley Lail and a 4-for-5 performance from Justin Smoak defeated Brown 13-1 on Friday night in the first of a three-game college baseball series. Carolina improves to 11-2 while the loss drops Brown to 1-4 on the year. Freshman right-hander Blake Cooper went five innings and did not allow an earned run to earn his first career win with the Gamecocks.
Cooper struck out six and walked just one in his first career start. He allowed just five hits in the contest. Three Gamecock relievers combined for four innings of scoreless work and did not allow a hit as well. Sophomore Alex Farotto struck out three in two innings, junior Sean Wideberg retired all three batters he faced on strikeouts and freshman Nick Fuller closed the game out with two strikeouts of his own as the Gamecock pitching staff ended with 14 on the evening.
The Gamecocks broke things open with six runs in the first inning off Brown starter James Cramphin. Lail was hit by a pitch to open the game, stole second base and scored on an error by Brown shortstop Rob Papenhause. With two runners on base, the Gamecocks would increase the lead to 3-0 on a one-out double from Justin Smoak. Trent Kline and Travis Jones would each add RBI base hits and Lail, in his second at-bat of the inning, doubled for his first RBI of the game as Carolina opened up a 6-0 lead.
The Bears would get a run back in the second inning scoring an unearned run off of Cooper. With a runner on third base and two outs, Ryan Murphy reached base on a fielding error by third baseman James Darnell to score Devin Thomas and cut the Carolina lead to five runs.
Cramphin would settle in the rest of the way for the Bears and allowed just one more run in the fourth inning as Lail’s second double of the game would be followed up by a Cheyne Hurst sacrifice and a RBI groundout courtesy of Lonnie Chisenhall. Cramphin dropped to 0-1 with the loss and worked six innings allowing seven runs on seven hits with one strikeout and four walks.
Carolina busted the game open in the eighth inning scoring six runs off Brown reliever Ethan Silverstein. Reese Havens and Harley Lail each had back-to-back RBI doubles, pinch hitter Jon Willard added a RBI base hit and Smoak delivered with a three-run homer, his fourth of the season. Smoak set a career-high with four hits and tied a career-high with five RBI on the evening. Lail’s three doubles marked the first time a Carolina player totaled three two-base hits since Smoak accomplished the feat on May 19, 2006 at Furman. Trent Kline also had two hits to pace the Gamecocks at the plate.
South Carolina returns to action on Saturday, Mar. 10 with game two of the series vs. the Bears. First pitch is set for 4 pm with live audio, video and gametracker stats available at uscsports.com.
