May 17, 2008
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Columbia, S.C. – On an emotional final day at Sarge Frye Field and with an SEC Tournament berth on the line, South Carolina shortstop Reese Havens’ launched a two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth inning to lift the Gamecocks to a 10-8 win over Tennessee in the final regular season game of the season. South Carolina improves to 37-19 and 15-15 in the SEC while the loss drops Tennessee to 27-29 and 12-18 in the conference. Carolina heads to Hoover, Ala. for the SEC Tournament as the seventh seed and will face SEC Western Division champion LSU, the second seed, on Wednesday, May 21 at 11 am ET at Regions Park.
The see-saw affair in the rubber game of the series was full of dramatics with the Vols rallying twice from deficits to tie the Gamecocks before Havens’ heroics in the bottom of the ninth inning. South Carolina led 8-5 going into the ninth inning when Tennessee mounted its comeback. Shawn Griffin led off with a single and Cody Brown walked to give the Vols a pair of runners with no outs. With one out and the count 0-1 to Jeff Lockwood, Gamecock reliever Brandon Todd threw a fastball down the outer edge of the plate that Lockwood lifted to left field and it just stayed fair for a home run to tie the game at 8-8. The magic then crept from the Tennessee dugout to the first base dugout on the Carolina side for the bottom of the ninth inning. Gamecock outfielder Harley Lail blooped a single into center field to lead off the frame followed by a sacrifice bunt from Scott Wingo. Havens then worked the count against left-handed reliever Joey Rosas to 2-2 before delivering a drive to right center for his 16th homer of the year and creating a wild frenzy inside Sarge Frye Field. The Gamecocks will move into their new facility this Fall and will begin playing its home games at the new ball park beginning in 2009.
Todd, who battled and got the Gamecocks out of a jam in the seventh inning in a key situation, earned the win and is 3-1 on the year. He went 2.2 innings and struck out two to pick up the victory. Rosas suffered the loss and is 4-3 on the year. He allowed two runs on two hits in 0.2 innings pitched.
South Carolina outhit Tennessee 16-11 on the afternoon with James Darnell finishing 4-for-5 with a homer and five RBI. He has compiled five or more RBIs in six games this year. Havens went 2-for-4 with three runs and three RBI and Justin Smoak reached base all five times with a 3-for-3 performance with three runs scored. Harley Lail and Scott Wingo also had two hits on the afternoon. Tennessee was led by Kentrail Davis, Shawn Griffin, Jeff Lockwood and Yan Gomes who all had two hits apiece for the Vols.
Tennessee went ahead first in the game with a run in the first inning as Griffin delivered a two-out solo home run to left center off of Gamecock starter Blake Cooper. The Gamecocks came back in the bottom half with two runs though and took a 2-1 lead as Smoak and Darnell tallied consecutive RBI doubles. That lead increased to 3-1 in the third inning as Lail had a two-out RBI infield single to score Justin Smoak. Tennessee would tie the game at 3-3 in the fifth inning as Brown delivered with a two-run single to score both Davis and Griffin.
Both teams got solid efforts out of their starting pitchers as Cooper and Tennessee starter Ty’Relle Harris kept the offenses at bay through the first half of the game.
Carolina would get to Harris in the sixth inning with four runs to go ahead 7-3. Havens drove in a run on a long fly ball to right center that almost went out and was dropped by right fielder Josh Liles along with a three-run homer from Darnell. The Vols would creep to within two runs though in the top of the seventh inning and knocked Cooper from the game. Liles singled to score a run and Lima was hit by pitch with the bases loaded. Todd however limited the damage with a strikeout against Lockwood followed by a groundout to shortstop to keep Tennessee by two runs. South Carolina scored a single run in the eighth inning on a RBI single by Darnell.
