April 2, 2007
Columbia, S.C. – South Carolina (23-6) sits at fourth in the nation in the ESPN/Sports Weekly coaches’ poll and fifth in both the Baseball America and Collegiate Baseball rankings released on Monday afternoon. Carolina hosts Furman on Wednesday night at Sarge Frye Field before heading to Gainesville, Fla. this weekend with a three-game series against the Florida Gators. Sunday’s game at Florida will be televised live on ESPN with a first pitch set for 1 pm.
Record: 23-6 (5-4 in the SEC)
13-3 in home games
6-3 in road games
4-0 in neutral games
3-2 vs. top 25 teams
Last Week: 2-2
Tuesday 3/27 – at Elon – W, 10-6
Friday 3/30 – Vanderbilt – L, 4-3 (12 inn.)
Saturday 3/31 – Vanderbilt – L, 12-1
Sunday 4/1 – Vanderbilt – W, 8-2
QUICK RECAP
South Carolina went 2-2 this past week with a 10-6 win at Elon and an 8-2 win over Vanderbilt on Sunday … After three weeks of SEC play, Carolina sits in a tie for third place overall in the conference with a 5-4 record.
COOPER
Sunday’s win vs. Vanderbilt featured a quality performance on the mound from freshman RHP Blake Cooper … Cooper worked a career-high 7.2 innings and allowed just two runs on six hits while striking out four batters … It was the longest stint by a Carolina pitcher this year as well … Cooper did not allow a run against the third ranked Commodores until the eighth inning … Cooper has won three of four starts in the last weeks and is 4-0 on the year with a 1.40 ERA in 25.2 innings of work with just 20 hits allowed and 21 strikeouts to just five walks.
DARNELL AND DISHER
Sunday’s win also featured home runs from both James Darnell and Phil Disher … Darnell went 2-for-4 with two runs and three RBI in Sunday’s victory … Darnell is batting .355 this season (33-for-93) with eight HR and 30 RBI … Disher finished 3-for-4 and tied a career-high with four RBI in Sunday’s game … His average raised to .356 and owns seven HR and 28 RBI on the season.
SMOAK
Sophomore first baseman Justin Smoak tallied hits in all four games this year and extended his hitting streak 10 games, that is the longest streak of the season for a Gamecock player … Smoak is among the leading hitters on his team with a .357 batting average as well as nine HR and 38 RBI … The nine home runs and 38 RBI is among the leaders in the SEC.
KLINE
Junior catcher Trent Kline continues to own the highest batting average on the team at a .385 clip (42-for-109) including a team-high 10 doubles, four HR and 24 RBI as well as 14 multi-hit games … He also leads the team with a .421 batting average in SEC contests.
JONES
Junior second baseman Travis Jones became the first Carolina player this season to hit two home runs in one game, when he hit a pair in the 10-6 win at Elon on Tuesday night.
AT THE PLATE
The South Carolina bats have been strong over the last two weeks with at least 10 hits in nine of the last 10 games as well as 17 home runs in that span … The team is currently batting .312 on the year (328-for-1050) with 46 home runs as well.
ON THE MOUND
Carolina’s pitching staff continues to be among the best in the nation with a 2.69 ERA and a 23-6 record … Carolina pitchers have logged 267.2 innings and own 290 strikeouts to just 87 walks and teams are batting just .223 in those games … Junior right-handed pitcher Harris Honeycutt performed well in Friday night’s game vs. Vanderbilt despite a no-decision … Honeycutt allowed just three runs, two earned, on six hits in 6.1 innings of work … In seven appearances, Honeycutt is 6-0 with a 1.62 ERA in 44.1 innings of work with 50 strikeouts to just 13 walks … South Carolina has lost just six games with five of those losses coming by one run and three in extra innings.
NEXT WEEK
Wednesday 4/4 – Furman – 7 pm
Friday 4/6 – Florida – 6:30 pm
Saturday 4/7 – Florida – 4 pm
Sunday 4/8 – Florida – 1 pm (ESPN)
