May 14, 2007
Columbia, S.C. – South Carolina ranks No. 8 in the USA Today/ESPN coaches’ poll as well as No. 10 in the Collegiate Baseball Top 30 and No. 12 in the Baseball America Top 25 released on Monday afternoon. The Gamecocks return to action beginning on Thursday night with a three-game series vs. Georgia to close out the regular season. Game times for this week are 7 pm (Thursday), 7 pm (Friday) and 4 pm (Saturday). The Gamecocks will honor the senior class before Friday’s game with Saturday’s game also televised on Fox Sports Net. All three games can also be heard on the Gamecock Radio Network and on-line at uscsports.com.
Record: 38-15 (15-12 in the SEC)
22-5 in home games
12-10 in road games
4-0 in neutral games
7-6 vs. top 25 teams
Last Week: 3-1
Wednesday 5/9 – The Citadel – W, 12-3
Friday 5/11- at Tennessee – W, 7-1
Saturday 5/12 – at Tennessee – L, 4-3
Sunday 5/13 – at Tennessee- W, 13-7
WEEKLY NOTES: South Carolina went 3-1 on the week defeating The Citadel 12-3 on Wednesday night and winning two of three games at Tennessee this past weekend … Carolina sits in second place in the Eastern Division and fourth place overall with one SEC weekend left … The Gamecocks’ series win at Tennessee marked the first time since 1999 that Carolina had won a series in Knoxville … Carolina has been nearly unstoppable on Sundays in the SEC with an 8-1 record in conference play with an average of 10.8 runs in those nine contests … South Carolina has been on a terror at the plate lately with 31 home runs in the last 13 games and at least one in each contests … South Carolina has 98 home runs on the year that surpasses last year’s total (92) and is the eighth highest tin school history … James Darnell and Justin Smoak lead the way with 17 apiece along with 16 from Travis Jones and 13 from Phil Disher … Disher homered in all three games this week vs. the Volunteers … He is batting .333 with 13 HR and 47 RBI on the year as well as a team-high 21 multi-hit games … A 2-for-5 performance on Sunday included a homer, a double and a career-high five RBI in the win over UT … Darnell is the current team leader in hitting at a .335 clip with 17 HR and 55 RBI … He homered in Sunday’s win and currently owns a 10-game hitting streak … Sophomore Andrew Crisp had the best weekend at the plate vs. Tennessee batting .615 (8-for-13) with a pair of homers, three runs scored and four RBI … South Carolina as a team is hitting .303 (574-for-1892) … Senior RHP Jeff Jeffords continues to impress out of the bullpen with 4.1 scoreless and hitless innings of relief in Friday’s win over the Volunteers to pick up the victory … Jeffords is 5-1 with three saves and a 1.82 ERA this year in 39.2 innings … He has 49 strikeouts to just 11 walks and 21 hits allowed … Jeffords followed up another solid start by Arik Hempy, who worked 4.2 innings and allowed just one run in the win … Hempy still stands at 5-1 with a 1.62 ERA in 44.1 innings with 47 strikeouts … Freshman RHP Blake Cooper recovered from a rough first inning, to go six innings and pick up a win on Sunday at Tenneseee … Copper is 7-1 with a 3.48 ERA on the year in 51.2 innings … Sophomore right-handed pitcher Mike Cisco struck out a career-high 10 batters in seven innings of the Wednesday win vs. The Citadel … 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 … Junior reliever Curtis Johnson had two scoreless outings in Saturday and Sunday’s games vs. Tennessee … Johnson’s two scoreless innings on Sunday earned him his second save on the year … The junior right-hander has 39 strikeouts in 28 innings with a 3.54 ERA and teams batting only .206 against him … Carolina’s pitching staff owns a 3.64 ERA with opponents .240 against them and 501 strikeouts in 479.1 innings.
NEXT WEEK
Thursday 5/17 – Georgia – 7 pm
Friday 5/18 – Georgia – 7 pm
Saturday 5/19 – Georgia – 4 pm (FSN South)
