March 8, 2009
Columbia, S.C. – South Carolina went 4-1 on the week with midweek victories vs. Georgia State and Charleston Southern as well as two wins in a three-game series vs. Long Beach State … Carolina is now 8-1 on the year and will be back in action on Monday with six games next week … South Carolina hosts Presbyterian, Old Dominion and Wofford before traveling to Starkville, Miss. for a three-game series with Mississippi State to start SEC action.
South Carolina Baseball Notebook
Record: 8-1
SEC: 0-0
Home: 7-1
Away: 1-0
This Week: 4-1
3/3/09 – vs. Georgia State (W, 2-0)
3/4/09 – vs. Charleston Southern (W, 6-4)
3/6/09 – vs. Long Beach State (W, 15-8)
3/7/09 – vs. Long Beach State (W, 7-5)
3/8/09 – vs. Long Beach State (L, 10-7)
NOTES:
The Carolina offense got things going this weekend vs. Long Beach State with 29 runs scored in three games vs. the Dirtbags … South Carolina hit .363 (41-for-113) in the series as well as 10 home runs in the series … Along with the Charleston Southern victory, South Carolina has four consecutive games of 10 or more hits … Carolina had 12 vs. Charleston Southern as well as 19, 10, and 12 in the three games with LBSU … The 19-hit total vs. LSBSU on Friday was the most hits for Carolina in a game this season.
Junior outfielder DeAngelo Mack hit .400 (6-for-15) vs. Long Beach State with three homers and six RBI … Mack tallied his first multi-homer game of his career in the 7-5 win vs. LBSU on Sat., March 7 … Mack is batting .371 (13-for-35) on the year with six HR and 14 RBI … He leads the team in hits, home runs and RBI … He owns a four-game hitting streak.
Junior first baseman Nick Ebert had a stellar week in the lineup and has made four straight starts at first base for the Gamecocks … Ebert is hitting .375 (6-for-16) for the year with three HR and six RBI … Ebert went 2-for-4 with a homer, double and two RBI in the 6-4 win over CSU … He also was 3-for-3 with a homer and four runs scored in the 15-8 win over Long Beach State.
Sophomore outfielder Whit Merrifield is among the team’s leading hitters as well … Merrifield hit a two-run game-winning homer in the 2-0 victory over Georgia State … He also homered and tripled in the 7-5 win over Long Beach State … Merrifield tied his career-high in hits with three in Sunday’s game vs. the Dirtbags … He was 7-for-14 with five runs in the LBSU series … On the year, Merrifield is batting .375 (12-for-32) with three homers and seven RBI along with a team-high two triples.
South Carolina has homered in all nine games this year and has 17 for the season … Carolina totaled a season-high four in both Saturday’s and Sunday’s games vs. Long Beach State.
Sophomore right-handed pitcher Sam Dyson continues to shine for Carolina … Dyson did now allow an earned run in seven innings of work as he limited Long Beach State to one unearned run on three hits while striking out six and walking two … He is 2-0 for the season with a 0.49 ERA and 17 strikeouts in a team-high 18.1 innings … Opponents are batting just .102 against him.
Senior left-handed pitcher Alex Farotto had a strong week as well as he picked up two saves for the Gamecocks … Farotto worked 0.2 scoreless with two strikeouts in the 6-4 win over Charleston Southern as well as 2.2 scoreless with five strikeouts in the 7-5 win over Long Beach State … Farotto is 1-0 with three saves and a 0.00 ERA in 8.1 innings, 11 strikeouts to three walks … He has not allowed a hit in four appearances (24 at-bats).
Freshman left-handed pitcher Adam Westmoreland picked up his first career win in the 2-0 victory over Georgia State … Westmoreland worked six innings of relief and limited the Panthers to just four hits while striking out a team-high eight batters in the win … He has struck out 12 in nine innings pitched.
Wednesday’s win over Charleston Southern featured the first appearance by right-handed pitcher Jay Brown since the early portion of the 2007 season … In a predetermined split, Brown earned a victory allowing just one run in 4.1 innings.
By the numbers, South Carolina is hitting .314 (96-for 306) on the year, 17 HR, 14 doubles, five triples … The pitching staff owns a team ERA of 3.22 in 81 innings … The staff has 91 strikeouts to 35 walks allowed, opponents batting only .192 … The Gamecocks’ fielding percentage is .977 (243 putouts, 92 assists, eight errors).
Carolina has jumped on teams early with 13 runs apiece in the first and second innings for 26 runs to just 10 by opponents in those innings played … South Carolina is outscoring its opponent 67-32.
Next Week:
3/9 – vs. Presbyterian (7 p.m.)
3/10 – vs. Old Dominion (7 p.m.)
3/11 – vs. Wofford (7 p.m.)
3/13 – at Mississippi State (7:30 p.m.)
3/14 – at Mississippi State (3 p.m.)
3/15 – at Mississippi State (2:30 p.m.)
All times Eastern
