May 9, 2007
Columbia, S.C. – Sophomore right-handed pitcher Mike Cisco struck out a career-high 10 batters in seven innings and behind four solo home runs, South Carolina defeated The Citadel 12-3 on Wednesday evening in a non-conference game at Sarge Frye Field. Carolina improves to 36-14 while The Citadel falls to 26-22 on the year.
Cisco worked his longest outing of the season with seven innings pitched. He allowed one run, unearned, on four hits with 10 strikeouts and one walk allowed. He is now 4-2 on the year. Chris McGuiness took the loss and is now 2-2 this season. He pitched two innings and allowed three runs on five hits.
South Carolina had 15 hits to The Citadel’s six on the evening including a 4-for-5 performance from Reese Havens along with three hits from Phil Disher. Havens and Kline each drove in three runs for the Gamecocks. Six different Bulldogs hitters comprised the Citadel’s hits on the evening.
Justin Smoak gave the Gamecocks a one-run lead in the bottom of the first inning with an opposite field home run off of McGuiness. On a 3-0 count, Smoak hit his homer over the right field wall for his 16th round tripper of the year, tying him with James Darnell for the team lead.
That lead extended to 3-0 in the bottom of the second inning as Carolina hit back-to-back home runs for the second straight game. Jon Willard hit his sixth of the year followed by the first home run of the year from Steven Reinhold. South Carolina’s fourth solo home run of the game put the Gamecocks on top 4-0 as Reese Havens belted his fifth of the year in the bottom of the fifth inning.
The Citadel would score its first run of the game in the seventh inning. Matt Arnold hit a two-out infield single and on the play Cisco threw past first baseman Justin Smoak to allow Richard Jones to score all the way from second base for the Bulldogs’ first run.
South Carolina bounced back in the bottom half of the seventh though with a pair of runs. Phil Disher and Trent Kline each hit consecutive RBI singles to score Travis Jones and James Darnell. The Gamecocks added six more runs in the eighth inning as Drew Martin collected an RBI walk with the bases loaded followed up by a two-run double from Kline. DeAngelo Mack also tallied his first career hit in a Gamecock uniform with a RBI single as well and Havens drove in two more with a base hit. The Citadel would score two runs in the ninth inning on a two-run double from Matt Reifsnider. Carolina reliever Wynn Pelzer pitched the final two innings and allowed two runs on two hits with four strikeouts.
South Carolina returns to action this weekend with a three-game series at Tennessee. First pitch on Friday is set for 7 pm ET with Saturday’s game also at 7 pm and televised on CSS-TV. The Sunday series finale is scheduled for 2 pm. All three games can also be heard on the Gamecock Radio Network and uscsports.com.
