April 15, 2008
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Columbia, S.C. – Justin Smoak tied two single-game school records with three homers and nine RBI as South Carolina defeated USC Upstate 14-4 on Tuesday evening at Sarge Frye Field. Carolina improves to 26-10 on the year while the loss drops the Spartans to 18-20 on the year. The Gamecocks return to action on Wednesday night traveling to Clemson with first pitch set for 7:15 pm. The game will be televised on CSS-TV and can also be heard on the Gamecock Radio Network.
Smoak finished 3-for-5 on the evening as he became the 12th player in school history to record three homers in one game. It was the third time it has happened this season, with James Darnell twice achieving the feat earlier in the year. His RBI total of nine marked only the fifth time in school history that the feat had been achieved and the first time since April 23, 1997 when Ryan Bordenick drove in nine runs vs. Clemson.
Smoak had three of 13 hits for Carolina on the evening. Reese Havens went 3-for-3 with a homer, two RBI and four runs scored. Harley Lail and Phil Disher also added two hits. Disher hit his 13th homer of the year. Disher and Smoak lead the Gamecocks with 13 apiece with James Darnell and Havens just behind them with 12 apiece as well. The Gamecocks scored 13 of 14 runs tonight with two outs.
USC Upstate had eight hits with Jimmy Tanner leading the way going 3-for-5 at the plate.
Freshman right-handed pitcher Sam Dyson earned the win to improve to 4-0 on the year. He went five innings and allowed two runs on five hits with four strikeouts and two walks. The loss went to USC Upstate reliever Tyler Oliver. He allowed three runs on two hits in 0.2 innings of work. He is 1-2 on the year.
Havens would put the Gamecocks ahead in the first inning with a solo home run to lead off the frame to left center. The Spartans would tie the game in the second inning as they pushed across a run against Dyson. Brian Dempsey drew a walk to open the inning followed by a single from Kyle Bowley to give USC Upstate a pair of runners with no outs. After a sacrifice bunt advanced the runners into scoring position, Dempsey would score on Eric Guillen’s sacrifice fly to right field.
Carolina would regain the lead in the third inning on a three-run homer by Smoak, his 50th career homer. After walks to Scott Wingo and Reese Havens, Smoak drilled a 3-1 pitch from reliever Tyler Oliver to give Carolina a 4-1 edge. The Spartans crept to within two in the top of the fourth inning on a solo home run from Kyle Bowley.
Leading 4-2, the Gamecocks increased their lead to eight runs with a six spot in the bottom of the fourth inning. Carolina would score all six runs with two outs with Harley Lail getting things started with a RBI base hit to score Whit Merrifield. With a pair of runners on base, Smoak tallied his second homer of the evening with a moon shot to left center. After a two-out walk to James Darnell, the Gamecocks would add their second homer of the inning on a two-run homer from Phil Disher giving Carolina a 10-2 advantage.
USC Upstate would score a pair of runs in the top of the seventh only to be matched by the Gamecocks in the bottom half as Carolina put four more runs on the scoreboard. Havens had a two-out RBI single and for the third time of the evening, Smoak would hit a three-run homer.
South Carolina would use six pitchers on the evening with junior right-hander Jordan Costner making his season debut for the 2008 season in the sixth inning with a pair of strikeouts. Also making a career debut for the Gamecocks was left-hander Clay Mitchell, who recorded the final out of the game to preserve the victory.
Carolina Baseball Note
South Carolina junior baseball player Andrew Crisp had an MRI today and will be evaluated by Dr. Talley Parrott of Midlands Orthopedics on Thursday at which time they will compare his MRI from November of 2007 with the one he had today (Tuesday) to see if there were any changes. Crisp had surgery on his back in January before the season started. Crisp is currently out for today’s contest vs. USC Upstate and tomorrow’s game at Clemson and is doubtful for the weekend series with Ole Miss. The junior was hurt in Sunday’s game at Auburn when he collided with Whit Merrifield while catching a fly ball in the seventh inning.
