April 17, 2009
Watch the Game – Part 1 
| Watch the Game – Part 2
COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina starting pitcher Sam Dyson hurled his first career complete game and tied a career-high with eight strikeouts as the Gamecocks defeated Auburn 8-3 on Friday evening at Carolina Stadium in game one of a three-game SEC baseball series. Carolina improves to 25-13 and 8-8 in the SEC while the loss drops Auburn to 24-14 and 7-9 in conference play. The teams meet again on Saturday with first pitch scheduled for 4 p.m., the game will be televised live on SportSouth and can be heard on the Gamecock Radio Network and at GamecocksOnline.com.
Dyson kept getting stronger as the night went on as he did not register his first strikeout until the final batter after the fourth inning. He worked hard through the final stretch and retired the last nine batters he faced. He allowed just three runs on six hits while walking just one batter. Dyson improves to 6-2 on the year. Auburn starting pitcher Grant Dayton suffered the loss and is 2-4 for the season. He allowed seven runs, six earned, on 11 hits with seven strikeouts and two walks.
“Obviously a lot of times in a baseball game, you go as your pitchers go and Sam Dyson was very, very good tonight,” said South Carolina head coach Ray Tanner. “He came up with some big pitches when he needed to against an offensive team that scores a lot of runs in a hurry. It was a great outing from Sam. We played very well. We got some hits, got a couple timely hits. Played good defense, it was a complete game for us.”
Auburn got on the scoreboard first and took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning. Ben Jones drew a leadoff walk and advanced to third base on a one-out single by Brian Fletcher. Jones would score on Casey McElroy’s RBI groundout to shortstop.
South Carolina struck back quick though and scored three times in the bottom half of the second to go ahead 3-1 against the Tigers. Jackie Bradley, Jr. led off with an infield single and advanced to third base on Andrew Crisp’s single. Parker Bangs knocked in Bradley, Jr. with a RBI single to right center and Crisp scored on Bobby Haney’s ground out to the shortstop. Bangs would eventually score the Gamecocks’ third run on Scott Wingo’s RBI double down the right field line.
The Tigers came back in the top of the third with a leadoff home run by Kevin Patterson to cut Carolina’s lead to 3-2. Patterson launched a 3-1 pitch from Dyson for a homer over the center field wall.
South Carolina put up its second three spot in the bottom of the fifth inning to increase the advantage to 6-2. With runners on first and second base with two outs, the Gamecocks got things started as Jackie Bradley, Jr. reached base on an infield single. On the play, shortstop Casey McElroy threw low to first base allowing DeAngelo Mack to score all the way from second base. Crisp then followed with a RBI double to left center that scored both Nick Ebert and Bradley, Jr. as the Gamecocks went ahead by four runs.
Auburn tallied a single run in the bottom of the sixth inning with Fletcher driving in Trent Mummey on a two-out RBI single.
South Carolina wasn’t finished though and scored twice more in the bottom of the eighth inning. Bobby Haney registered a RBI single to score Crisp and would eventually score on DeAngelo Mack’s third hit of the night, an RBI single.
Mack’s three hits led the way for Carolina. Nick Ebert also had 2-for-3 day at the plate, Jackie Bradley, Jr. went 2-for-4 and Andrew Crisp went 3-for-4. Parker Bangs RBI single in the second inning extended his hitting streak to 10 games. Crisp’s three hits gives him 233 career hits, putting him at ninth place on the USC career list. Kevin Patterson went 2-for-3 and Brian Fletcher was 2-for-4 to lead Auburn at the plate.
