April 30, 2007
Columbia, S.C. – South Carolina (33-13) ranks No. 8 in the Sports Weekly/ESPN coaches’ poll as well as No. 14 by Baseball America and No. 17 by Collegiate Baseball as of Monday afternoon. Carolina returns home for a weekend series against Kentucky beginning on Friday night at 7 pm at Sarge Frye Field. The Gamecocks have seven of 10 games at home to end the regular season.
Record: 33-13 (11-10 in the SEC)
19-4 in home games
10-9 in road games
4-0 in neutral games
7-6 vs. top 25 teams
Last Week: 2-3
Tuesday 4/24 – Davidson – W, 6-2
Wednesday 4/25 – at Clemson – L, 14-5
Friday 4/27 – at Alabama – L, 10-5
Saturday 4/29 – at Alabama – W, 4-1
Sunday 4/30 – at Alabama – L, 11-10
QUICK RECAP
South Carolina went 2-3 this past week with a 6-2 win over Davidson, a 14-5 loss at Clemson and one of three wins in a series at Alabama this weekend (L, 14-5, W, 4-1, L, 11-10) … South Carolina is 33-13 and 11-10 in the SEC … The Gamecocks sit in second place in the Eastern Division and fifth overall in the Southeastern Conference … South Carolina had a streak of nine straight Sunday wins snapped in Sunday’s 11-10 loss to the Crimson Tide … Carolina has won four SEC series this year (all two games to one) and have lost three SEC series as well (all two games to one).
HEMPY
Junior left-handed pitcher Arik Hempy made his third SEC start of the year and was effective in Saturday’s 4-1 win at Alabama … Hempy worked a season-high 7.1 innings and struck out a season-high seven batters while allowing just one run on seven hits in the victory … Hempy is now 4-1 on the year with a 1.87 ERA in seven appearances … He has logged 33.2 innings and allowed eight runs and 24 hits while striking out 32 and yielding just 12 walks … Opponents are batting only .205 against him.
JEFFORDS
Senior right-handed pitcher Jeff Jeffords made two appearances for the Gamecocks out of the bullpen this week … He earned a save in Saturday’s game retiring all four batters he faced … Jeffords is 4-1 with a 1.80 ERA in 15 appearances and 30 innings pitched … He has allowed seven runs, six earned on 17 hits with 35 strikeouts and six walks with opposing teams batting .160 against him.
SOME NUMBERS
Sunday’s loss was the first time this year the Gamecocks had lost when scoring 10 or more runs … South Carolina is 15-1 in games when the team has 10 or more runs scored.
HOME RUNS
South Carolina homered in all five games this week with eight home runs in those contests … The Gamecocks are among the nation’s leaders with 80 on the year … South Carolina has four players with over 10 home runs already this season; James Darnell (15), Justin Smoak (14), Travis Jones (13), Phil Disher (10).
SMOAK
Smoak currently leads the team with a .332 batting average (61-for-184) with 12 doubles, 14 HR and 53 RBI on the year … Smoak had a 23-game hitting streak snapped at Clemson on Wednesday night, two games short of the school record 25 set by Greg Keatley in 1976.
REINHOLD
Outfielder Steven Reinhold had a career-high four hits in Sunday’s loss to Alabama … Reinhold made three of five starts in the outfield this past week … The four hits on Sunday marked his first career multi-hit game at Carolina.
JONES
Junior second baseman Travis Jones went 9-for-23 (.391) this past week with a pair of home runs and eight RBI … On the season, Jones is batting .310 with 13 HR and 46 RBI as well as 11 stolen bases … Jones and Smoak are the only two players on the year to start all 46 games for the Gamecocks.
TEAM NUMBERS
South Carolina as a team is batting .301 (495-for-1643) … The squad is fielding .976 … Carolina holds a team ERA of 3.58 in 417.1 innings with 428 strikeouts to 158 walks allowed
NEXT WEEK
Friday 5/4 – vs. Kentucky – 7 pm
Saturday 5/5 – vs. Kentucky – 4 pm
Sunday 5/6 – vs. Kentucky – 1:30 pm
