March 1, 2004
Columbia, S.C. – The University of South Carolina baseball team (9-0) has moved up to No. 5 in the Baseball America and Collegiate Baseball polls following an undefeated weekend at home in the Gamecock Baseball Round Robin. South Carolina defeated Duquesne, Radford and George Mason over the weekend to extend the squad’s winning streak to nine games on the year.
South Carolina continues its homestand on Wednesday night at 5 p.m. as the Gamecocks host Furman at Sarge Frye Field. The Gamecocks will play host to No. 18 Clemson on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. and travel to Clemson on Sunday afternoon with first pitch scheduled for 2 p.m. at Doug Kingsmore Stadium.
Live stats will be available for all three games this week with live audio broadcast for both Clemson games at USCSPORTS.COM. Radio broadcast will also be available for both games in Columbia on WISW 1320 AM.
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
Record: 9-0, 0-0(Southeastern Conference) (0-0 vs. rank Top 25)
9-0 home games … 0-0 neutral site … 0-0 on the road
Last Week: 3-0
GAMECOCK BASEBALL ROUND ROBIN
Saturday — 2/28 vs. Duquesne — W, 20-2
Saturday — 2/28 vs. Radford — W, 11-0 (7)
Sunday — 2/29 vs. George Mason — W, 5-0
WEEKLY NOTES:
South Carolina improved to 9-0 with a weekend sweep at the Gamecock Baseball Round Robin vs. Duquesne, Radford and George Mason … South Carolina shut out both Radford and George Mason, the Gamecocks now own five shutouts in nine wins on the season.
GAMECOCKS AT THE PLATE
South Carolina has hit at least one HR in each game this season and own 24 HR on the year … South Carolina has finished with at least 10 hits in eight consecutive games with a .393 team batting average on the year … Senior INF Bryan Triplett owns a nine-game hitting streak for South Carolina … Triplett is batting .417 on the year … South Carolina batted around in lineup four times this weekend (three vs. Duquesne, one vs. Radford), the Gamecocks have now batted around 11 times this season … Junior OF Brendan Winn batted .556 on the weekend (5-for-9, one HR, eight RBI) and hit a two-run game-winning homer and had three RBI in the 5-0 win vs. George Mason, on the season Winn is batting .593 with four HR and 17 RBI and owns an eight-game hitting streak … Senior catcher Landon Powell batted .500 on the weekend (6-for-12, one HR, four RBI) and is batting .368 with two HR and 10 RBI … Powell and Triplett lead the team in multi-hit games with six … Junior INF Steve Pearce hit his team-leading sixth homer of the year in USC’s 11-0 win vs. Radford and batted .400 on the weekend, Pearce is batting .545 with six HR and 19 RBI … Freshman INF Tommy King started and is batting .471 (8-for-17, two HR, three RBI) this season … Junior Kevin Melillo continues to swing a hot bat as well with a batting average of .433 and 19 RBI, tied with Pearce for a team-high … Melillo and Winn each have six multi-RBI games this year.
GAMECOCKS ON THE MOUND
The Gamecock pitching staff has had success on the mound this season, Carolina owns a 1.25 Team ERA and have allowed less than 10 hits in all nine games, combined with five shutouts … All 14 pitchers that have appeared in games for South Carolina are averaging at least one strikeout per inning, six of the nine games have featured the South Carolina pitching staff finishing with at least 10 strikeouts … Junior LHP Matt Campbell pitched the longest outing by a USC pitcher this year in the Gamecocks … 5-0 win vs. George Mason, Campbell worked eight scoreless innings allowing no walks and just five hits while striking out 11 batters, the second highest total of his career … Junior RHP Chad Blackwell made his fifth appearance of the year, vs. George Mason and worked another perfect inning, Blackwell has hurled five perfect innings on the year and struck out 11 batters out of the bullpen … Junior RHP Aaron Rawl pitched five scoreless innings allowing just three hits while striking out five and walking none in the 11-0 win vs. Radford, Rawl improved to 3-0 on the year.
GAMECOCK TIDBITS
South Carolina has outscored opponents 119-11 this year and scored at least 10 runs in a game five of the nine games this year … The Gamecocks own a .991 fielding percentage this season and have played seven of nine games without committing an error.
