March 14, 2007
Columbia, S.C. – Harley Lail’s first career home run in the top of the sixth inning broke a 1-1 tie and the Gamecock relief corps combined for five scoreless innings of relief as South Carolina defeated Appalachian State 4-1 on Wednesday evening in the final game of a two-game series at Sarge Frye Field. Carolina improves to 15-2 on the year while the loss drops Appalachian State to 10-8 this season. South Carolina opens SEC play this weekend with a three-game series at home vs. LSU.
With the game tied 1-1 in the sixth inning, Lail drove a 1-2 pitch from Mountaineers reliever Chris Patterson just over the left field wall to give the Gamecocks a one-run lead. Carolina would add to it in the seventh inning with two more runs as Trent Kline knocked an RBI double to score James Darnell from first base and Reese Havens was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to score Kline. Lail would finish 2-for-4 on the evening for the Gamecocks. Chris Baker had two of five hits for ASU to lead the Mountaineers at the plate.
Senior reliever Jeff Jeffords earned the win with two scoreless innings of work. He struck out three batters and allowed just one walk. Sophomore Alex Farotto added two scoreless innings with three strikeouts and junior Wynn Pelzer pitched a scoreless ninth inning to earn his first save for the year. Junior right-hander Sean Wideberg went four innings in his first career start and allowed just one run on four hits.
South Carolina scored its first run of the game in the third inning. Andrew Crisp singled, advanced to second base on a balk, reached third on a groundout and scored on Reese Havens’ RBI sacrifice fly to center field. Appalachian State would tie the game in the fourth inning with Chris Baker driving in Jason Rook.
This weekend’s series vs. LSU will be televised on CSS-TV and Jumbo Sports. Games can also be heard on the Gamecock Radio Network including flagship stations in Columbia (103.1 FM, 1320 AM). Live audio, video and gametracker stats are also available at uscsports.com.
