March 11, 2008
Columbia, S.C. – Four Yale pitchers limited fifth ranked South Carolina to five hits and Ryan Lavarnway added his fifth home run of the season as the Bulldogs defeated the Gamecocks 5-3 on Tuesday evening at Sarge Frye Field. Yale improves to 3-5 on the year while the loss drops Carolina to 9-3 this season. South Carolina and Yale will meet one more time on Wednesday night with first pitch set for 7 pm.
Yale starting pitcher Stefan Schropp was effective in his first start of the year as he allowed just one run on three hits in five innings of work to pick up his first win of the season. Reliever Steve Gilman came on in the ninth inning and struck out two batters to earn his second save of the year. Carolina starter Nick Godwin suffered the loss and is 1-2 this year. Godwin allowed two runs on three hits with four strikeouts and two walks.
South Carolina broke out of the gates first with the first run of the game, scoring in the second inning. Harley Lail knocked a 3-2 pitch from Schropp over the left centerfield wall for his second home run of the year.
It would remain 1-0 until the fourth inning as the Bulldogs grabbed the lead from Carolina in the with a pair of runs against Godwin. Gant Elmore drew a leadoff walk advanced to second on a wild pitch and reached third base on a balk. A walk to Ryan Lavarnway gave Yale runners on the corners with no outs. Elmore would score Yale’s first run of the game on a RBI fielder’s choice courtesy of Jake Doyle. Two more hits including a RBI base hit from Trygg Larsson-Danforth put Yale ahead by a run.
That lead increased to 3-1 in the top of the fifth inning for the Bulldogs with an unearned run off of Gamecock reliever Parker Bangs. Josh Cox led off with a hard hit lined single to center that was misplayed by Whit Merrifield allowing him to reach third base. Elmore would be hit by the next pitch from Bangs to give the Bulldogs runners on the corners with no outs. Bangs came close to getting out of the inning without allowing a run as he struck out Ryan Lavarnway and Jake Doyle and had two strikes on Andrew Moore. However, before the next pitch, Elmore would cause confusion by going early to try and steal second base and caused a balk by Bangs to allow Cox to score and give Yale a two-run cushion.
Both teams traded runs in the seventh inning on a pair of solo home runs. Lavarnway greeted Gamecock reliever Justin Hopper with a homer as he hit a 2-0 shot over the left field wall for his fifth round tripper of the year. Carolina outfielder DeAngelo Mack returned serve for the Gamecocks in the bottom half as he ripped a 1-1 pitch from Yale reliever Chris Walsh over the right field wall to cut the Yale lead to one run. Yale would get an important insurance run in the top of the ninth inning as pinch hitter P.J. Gorynski walked with two outs, stole second base and scored on Larsson-Danforth’s third hit of the night and second RBI, a single to left center.
Yale finished with a 10-5 advantage in hits over the Gamecocks. Cox and Larsson-Danforth each led Yale with three hits apiece. Five different players recorded hits for Carolina including Reese Havens, who extended his hitting streak to 12 games on the season.
Wednesday’s game will feature a live audio broadcast and live gametracker stats available at gamecocksonline.com.
