May 14, 2004
Columbia, S.C. – Matt Campbell bested Luke Hochevar 2-1 Friday night in a classic Southeastern Conference pitcher’s duel and Brendan Winn singled up the middle in the eighth inning to drive in Kevin Melillo with the winning run before a crowd of 4,478.
The second game of the three game series is scheduled for 4 p.m., Saturday at Sarge Frye Field. South Carolina improved to 37-13 overall, 14-11 in the SEC. Tennessee dropped to 34-17, 12-13.
Campbell pitched his third complete game of the season and improved his record to 7-3. He allowed four hits, only one after the second inning, walked one, hit a batter and struck out nine. His ninth strikeout was the final out of the game and increased Campbell’s season strikeout total to 100 in 88 innings.
Hochevar was almost as effective. He allowed five hits, walked four and struck out nine. His record dropped to 3-2. There were no extra base hits in the game.
With one out in the bottom of the eighth inning Melillo singled to right field, his second hit of the game, and stole second base. Landon Powell drew his second walk of the night and Hochevar was relieved by Scot Drucker. He threw two pitches out of the strike zone to Winn who hit a hard ground ball up the middle on Drucker’s third pitch to score Melillo from second base. It was the second hit of the night for Winn as he and Melillo accounted for two thirds of the Gamecock total.
The game started out as anything but a pitcher’s duel as both Campbell and Hochevar struggled in the first inning. Two of the first three Vol batters — Josh Alley and Kyle Norrid — singled and Alex Suarez walked to load the bases. Chris Kemp grounded to Melillo at second base for the second out but Alley scored to give Tennessee a 1-0 lead.
The first four South Carolina batters reached in the bottom of the first but the Gamecocks managed only one run to tie the score. Steven Tolleson and Melillo singled and Winn walked to load the bases with no outs. Tolleson scored on a passed ball and Winn walked to again load the bases with no outs. Steve Pearce hit a line drive to Tennessee second baseman Eric King and he doubled Winn off first base and Hochevar pitched out of that jam.
Nick Crowe singled for Tennessee in the top of the second inning but was thrown out attempting to steal by Powell, the Gamecock catcher. The only Vol hit after that was an eighth inning single by Alley whose two hits were half the Tennessee total. Campbell hit Alley with a pitch in the third inning and King reached on an error in the fifth as Tennessee had seven base runners in the game.
The two hits by Winn extended his current hitting streak to seven games during which he has had 11 hits and has driven in 11 runs.
