May 2, 2004
Columbia, S.C. – Freshman Arik Hempy bested sophomore Matt Maloney in a classic battle of left-handed pitchers Sunday and Landon Powell provided an insurance two run eighth inning home run as seventh ranked South Carolina shut out ninth ranked Mississippi 3-0 to win a Southeastern Conference baseball series two games to one.
With a crowd of 2,885 cheering him on Hempy struck out 11, walked two and hit one batter in the first complete game of his career to improved his record to 3-1 with one save. He pitched three hitless innings Friday night to save a 7-3 South Carolina win in the series opener. All of Hempy’s decisions have come against Southeastern Conference teams. He claimed two wins in relief over Florida and lost a relief decision at Arkansas.
Hempy lowered his earned run average to 1.82.Opponents have a .144 composite batting average against him. He has allowed 19 hits, has struck out 45 and walked 12 in 39 2/3 innings. The Sunday complete game was Hempy’s second career start. He has pitched 16 times in relief.
Maloney was almost as effective, limiting South Carolina to six hits in eight innings, only four over the first seven. Michael Campbell singled, moved to second on a sacrifice and scored on a two out double by Brendan Winn in the first inning to account for all the scoring until Powell hit his 13th home run of the season with two outs in the eighth inning. Campbell, who beat out an infield hit, scored ahead of Powell.
Campbell and Powell were the only players on either team to have two hits.
Steve Pearce had a fourth inning two out single and Powell doubled with one out in the sixth as Maloney allowed a total of six hits. He struck out eight and walked only one. The loss dropped his record to 1-2.
Four of the seven Mississippi base runners advanced to second base but none beyond as South Carolina improved its record to 32-12 overall, 11-10 in the SEC. Mississippi dropped to 33-14, 12-9. The 3-0 victory was the second consecutive Sunday shutout for South Carolina. A week earlier left-hander Matt Campbell bested Alabama 1-0 in 10 innings.
South Carolina is in the midst of spring semester final examinations and as a result does not have any mid-week non-conference games scheduled this week. The Gamecocks travel to Auburn for a three game SEC series beginning Friday.
