Gamecocks Travel to No. 13/12 LSU for Weekend Series

March 21, 2013

Gamecocks at No. 13/12 LSU – March 22-24
Tiger Park – Baton Rouge, La.

2013 SC SB Notes (3/21)

South Carolina Team Notes

The Gamecocks won their first 13 games by scoring seven or more runs.
Winning five-consecutive games (2/24-3/3) by the run rule is the best as far as those records go (since 1995). The previous best stretch of run-rule wins came in 1995.
South Carolina’s leadoff batter has reached 51.9 percent of the time so far in 2013, tops in the SEC.
The Gamecock pitchers have walked 2.04 batters per seven innings, which ranks fourth in the SEC.
In three of the nine losses, the Gamecocks drew one or no walks. Only once in a win (0 vs. Villanova) did South Carolina walk less than two times.
In the win over Radford (2/24), redshirt senior Audrey Broyles tossed her first shutout since Feb. 26, 2011, against Elon. This was a three-hitter to defeat the defending Big South regular-season champs.
Also recording their first shutouts as Gamecocks this year were sophomore Katelynn Howser (vs. Buffalo) and freshman Katie Marks (vs. Florida International).
Gamecock pinch hitters are 9-for-23 (.391) at the plate and reach base at a .519 clip, drawing four walks and taking one hit by pitch.

Single-Season Record Already Fallen; Others to Watch

Junior second baseman Dana Hathorn has already broken the single-season hit-by-pitch mark, getting plunked 10 times this year through 26 games.
One more triple would put senior shortstop Samie Garcia into a tie for 14th with six in a year.
Junior right fielder Chelsea Hawkins made it a 13-way tie for 15th place with six homers already this season.
Junior Ashlyn Masters has three sacrifice flies, good to tie for 12th on the single-season list.

Some Single-Game Marks Rewritten in 2013

South Carolina beat Alabama State 29-0 (5) on March 2, setting a new NCAA-era record for runs in a game and tying the program record for margin of victory.
The Gamecocks tied their high of 25 RBI in that Alabama State contest.
Sophomore Olivia Lawrence broke the runs-scored record against the Hornets, crossing home five times.
Chelsea Hawkins tied the single-game homer record with two blasts against Kennesaw State, also on March 2.

Schedule Notes

South Carolina opens the 2013 season with 22 road games (five weekends + one midweek DH) and 29 of 32 due to ongoing construction at the new Carolina Softball Stadium at Beckham Field.
The 1997 team spent 23 of its first 26 games away from home in the most similar stretch in the Gamecocks’ SEC-era history.
The 1988 squad played its first 31 games away from Columbia (six weeks on the road), while the 1987 team spent its first 20 games traveling (10 days).
The Gamecocks have 31 of their 53 scheduled games against teams who made the 2012 NCAA Tournament.
All 24 SEC games are against NCAA tourney participants.
Four of South Carolina’s SEC games will be on television, including one on national outlet ESPNU.
The Gamecocks lost their first TV contest to No. 4/6 Alabama 5-3 on Sat., March 16. The Sat., March 23 game at LSU and the Fri., March 29 game at Missouri are also being televised.

Tracking Garcia

Samie Garcia entered 2013 on many top 15 career lists at South Carolina, and her performance so far in 2013 has helped her leap up the charts.
She’s second in batting average (.371), second in on-base percentage (.442) and fourth in slugging percentage (.542).
After triples in the last four games of the UCF Holiday Inn Select Tournament, Garcia is tied for seventh in that career category with 10.
Garcia is also fifth in hit-by-pitches (14), tied for 13th in runs (107), tied for 14th in homers (11), and tied for 15th in total bases (243).
Currently, Garcia ranks as the 16th toughest Gamecock in recorded history to strike out, going 14 at bats per strikeout.
In the per-game categories, she’s second in hits (1.21), third in runs (0.78), fifth in triples (0.07), seventh in walks (0.32), eighth in home runs (0.08) and 10th in doubles (0.18).
She stole four bases in the Stetson Lead-Off Classic to move into the top 10 in that category. Now with 15 on the year, she’s tied for sixth in career stolen bases (41) and second in stolen bases per game (0.30).

Roster Notes

South Carolina returns four position starters from last year’s team, including 40 starts in right field (Chelsea Hawkins), 44 at catcher (Shelby Gonzales) and 54 at both shortstop (Samie Garcia) and second base (Dana Hathorn).
The Gamecocks’ 2012 leaders in batting average, hits, doubles, triples, home runs, slugging percentage, walks and stolen bases graduated.
Eighty-two percent of the team’s sacrifice hits departed, the highest of any offensive category. The next highest percentage is stolen bases (71%).
Despite losing doubles leader Kaitlin Westfall and single-season home run record-tying holder Evan Childs, the Gamecocks have 51 percent of its doubles and 52 percent of its homers back in 2013.
With the 11 departed players, the Gamecocks also lost players who took 41 of their 65 pinch-hitting appearances and the top four pinch runners.
Back is the 2012 team leader in runs scored (Samie Garcia, 41), who also tied for the team lead in stolen bases.
The team returns over two-thirds of the innings thrown in 2012, including ERA leader Audrey Broyles and strikeout leader Katelynn Howser.
Coming back from season-long injuries last year are redshirt senior Kelley Dillon and redshirt sophomore Julie Sarratt.
Nine newcomers join the roster, including six freshmen, a sophomore transfer and two junior-college transfers.
The team is again dominated by South Carolina natives, with 40 percent of the roster hailing from the Palmetto State.

Family Ties

The Masters sisters Ashlyn and Lauren are the first siblings to play on the same Gamecock team and the second set ever, after the Troesh sisters, Leanna (1997-99) and Debralee (2000-03).
Junior Chelsea Hawkins is the niece of Tia Rogers (2002-04 letter-winner).
While not a Gamecock, Samie Garcia is the cousin of Boston Red Sox outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury.

The Last Meeting

LSU	9

South Carolina	0	(6)

March 25, 2012
Beckham Field

Gamecocks Fall 9-0 in Six Innings in LSU Series Finale

South Carolina (19-16, 2-9 SEC) struggled again at the plate, as LSU (23-8, 7-1 SEC) claimed a 9-0 win in six innings on Sunday afternoon in front of 632 fans at Beckham Field.

Recap | Box Score

Scouting LSU

LSU enters the weekend off a doubleheader sweep of Georgia Southern with a 25-5 record, leading the SEC West with a 5-1 record.
Second-year head coach Beth Torina has the Tigers at No. 13 in the latest NFCA/USA Today coaches poll.
The Tigers stand strong at home, going 15-1 at Tiger Park this year, including sweeping then-No. 17/17 Kentucky last weekend at home.
Pitching leads the Tigers to success, fronted by senior ace Rachele Fico.
Fico stands in the top 40 nationally in strikeouts per seven innings (8.9, 33rd) and hits allowed per seven innings (4.5, 35th).
She’s tossed eight shutouts in 14 starts, posting a 15-3 record and a 1.62 ERA. In 112.1 innings, she’s struck out 146 and walked 40.
Meghan Patterson stands second on the staff with 47 K’s against 16 walks in 53.2 innings, posting a 1.70 ERA.
Ashley Czechner, a Pawley’s Island, S.C., native, is 6-0 with a 2.30 ERA in 42.2 innings.
The Tigers use speed in their offense, led by A.J. Andrews’ 10 stolen bases without being caught. Andrews also has scored 23 times.
Freshman Bianka Bell leads the squad with a .430 on-base percentage and ranks second with a .542 slugging percentage, hitting five homers.
Redshirt junior Alison Falcon leads the squad with a .544 slugging percentage, helped by her eight doubles and four homers.
A balanced offense, the Tigers have eight players with double-digit RBI.

The Gamecocks’ Career Against LSU

None of the returning Gamecocks have experienced a win over LSU, as the last South Carolina win in the series came in the second game of the season-ending series of 2008, the Gamecocks winning 4-3.
Samie Garcia went 3-for-10 in the last trip to Baton Rouge in 2011, while Chelsea Hawkins had a homer in the series that year.
Last year, the Tiger batters drew 15 walks off three Gamecock pitchers still on this year’s team while fanning only eight times.
South Carolina’s last win in Baton Rouge came on April 6, 2007. The last series win on the road was in the first year of SEC play, 1997, a doubleheader sweep.