March 29, 2008
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Columbia, S.C. – For the second time in 11 days, Gamecock junior infielder James Darnell belted three home runs to tie a USC single-game record and the Gamecocks finished with 16 hits on the afternoon on the way to a 13-7 victory over Kentucky in game two of a SEC baseball series. Carolina improves to 17-7 and 5-3 in the conference while Kentucky drops to 22-3 and 5-3 in the SEC as well. The rubber game of the series is scheduled for 1:30 pm on Sunday with live gametracker stats available at gamecocksonline.com as well as live video broadcast. The game can also be heard on the Gamecock Radio Network with Mike Morgan and Tommy Moody on the call.
Darnell is the only Gamecock player ever to record two games with three home runs in USC history. It marked the 12th time that it has happened by a Gamecock player. South Carolina homered five times in the game with Phil Disher and Reese Havens also recording homers. Darnell and Havens each lead the team with eight homers with Disher just behind with seven round trippers on the year. Saturday’s game was also the third time this year that Carolina has tallied five homers in one game.
Carolina starting pitcher Will Atwood picked up the win and is 3-0 on the season with all three wins coming in SEC games. He allowed five runs on six hits with seven strikeouts and three walks in six innings pitched. His seven strikeout total tied a career-high he set two weeks ago at Vanderbilt. Carolina reliever Craig Thomas pitched the final three innings to pick up his first career save. He allowed just two runs on four hits to close the game out for Carolina. Kentucky starter Scott Green suffered the loss and is 2-1 on the year. He lasted only three innings and gave up eight runs on nine hits.
South Carolina batted around in the bottom of the second inning and scored five runs against Green to get on top early in the game. Harley Lail got things started with a one-out walk and scored all the way from first base on a Phil Disher’s RBI double down the left field line. After an Adam Crisp single, Disher would score on Reese Havens’ RBi single to right field. Crisp would eventually score on a wild pitch issued by Green and Darnell would knock a two-run homer to left field to give Carolina a five-run cushion.
Kentucky would get three of the runs back in the top of the third inning courtesy of a three-run homer from Collin Cowgill. Cowgill drilled a first pitch from Atwood over the left field wall to bring the Wildcats within two runs.
Carolina matched the Wildcats in the bottom half with three runs to raise the lead back to five runs as the Gamecocks knocked two more homers off of Green. Disher tallied his second hit of the afternoon with a two-run homer to left field, his 30th home run of his career with the Gamecocks. Disher became the 22nd player in school history to reach 30 or more home runs. Reese Havens added a homer to right field as well as South Carolina took an 8-3 lead.
That lead was extended to 9-3 in the bottom of the fourth inning as the Gamecocks loaded the bases with James Darnell scoring on a RBI fielder’s choice from Crisp. Kentucky scored twice in the top of the fifth inning as they loaded the bases as well with Sawyer Carroll and Ryan Wilkes each recording sacrifice fly RBIs to bring Kentucky within four runs of the Gamecocks.
South Carolina again matched Kentucky in the bottom half with Darnell unloading on Kentucky reliever Aaron Lovett with his second home run of the game, a two-run shot to right center, giving the Gamecocks an 11-5 lead. Darnell’s third home run came in the seventh inning as he tagged Lovett again, this time to left field to put USC ahead 13-5. The last home run made Darnell the 23rd player in school history to record 30-plus career homers reaching the 30-homer mark as well. Kentucky would score their final two runs in the ninth inning on a two-run single from Sawyer Carroll.
Darnell’s four hits led the Gamecocks. He also finished with a career-high six RBI. Havens went 3-for-4 with three runs and a pair of RBI. Smoak, Enders, Disher and Adam Crisp all had two hits apiece as well. Andrew Crisp had a single to extend his hitting streak to 17 games. Kentucky was led by Cowgill’s 3-for-4 performance with three runs and three RBI. Carroll had three RBI as well. Kennan Wiley went 2-for-4 with two runs scored also for Kentucky.
