April 9, 2004
Columbia, S.C. – Landon Powell’s two out, 10th inning drive off the batter’s eye behind the center field fence Friday night powered South Carolina to a 5-4 win over Florida in the first of a three game Southeastern Conference baseball series.
The second game is scheduled for 3 p.m., Saturday at Sarge Frye Field. The win evened South Carolina’s conference record at 5-5 and Florida is also even at 5-5. Overall, sixth ranked South Carolina is 24-6. The 17th ranked Gators are 25-9.
Freshman left-hander Arik Hempy, who pitched 2 1/3 innings of relief, earned his first collegiate win and evened his record at 1-1. He allowed one infield hit and struck out four without walking a batter. Connor Falkenbach worked four innings in relief to take the loss, dropping his record to 5-2. He allowed four hits and the game winning home run which was the eighth of the season for Powell.
Home runs accounted for all five South Carolina runs and three of the four runs scored by Florida.
Michael Campbell hit his 10th in the second inning and Brendan Winn hit a three run homer in the sixth, his ninth, to give South Carolina a 4-2 lead at the time.
Ben Harrison hit his ninth home run for Florida’s first score in the fourth inning. The second Gator run was unearned. Stephen Barton singled in the seventh inning, was sacrificed to second, took third on a passed ball, and scored on a sacrifice fly by Brian Jeroloman. Jeff Corsaletti homered behind a single by Adam Davis to tie the score at 4-4 in the eighth inning.
Billy Buckner pitched seven innings and allowed four hits and two runs, only one earned, for South Carolina. He struck out seven and walked none. Chad Blackwell worked two thirds of an inning before giving way to Hempy. Blackwell gave up the two run homer by Corsaletti.
Tommy Boss, the Florida starter, worked 5 2/3 innings. He allowed seven hits and was charged with two runs. Boss struck out one and walked none. He was relieved by Lee Roberson with two outs and a runner on base in the sixth inning. Roberson walked Campbell and gave up the Winn three run homer and walked Ryan Mahoney before giving way to Falkenbach without retiring a batter.
South Carolina collected 12 hits to eight by Florida and each team committed one error. The Florida infield turned three double plays and the Gator defense had 18 assists. The only extra base hit besides the five home runs, three by the Gamecocks and two by the Gators, was a double by Winn.
Powell, Winn and Davy Gregg had three hits apiece to account for nine of the 12 South Carolina hits. C. J. Smith was the only Florida player with two hits.
