Feb. 21, 2005

Columbia, S.C. – The South Carolina baseball team moved up to No. 5 in the Baseball America and Collegiate Baseball Polls released Monday afternoon. South Carolina is 6-0 this season and fresh off a weekend sweep over the Radford Highlanders. Carolina returns to action on Friday afternoon at 3 p.m. hosting a three-game series vs. Niagara at Sarge Frye Field.

WEEKLY NOTES:

South Carolina swept a weekend series vs. Radford and outscored the Highlanders 43-8 in the three games … Senior RHP Aaron Rawl improved to 2-0 with the win on Friday, he allowed no runs on six hits while striking out five on his way to the win … Senior RHP Zac McCamie worked five innings to earn the win on Saturday … McCamie fanned seven, scattered four hits and allowed one unearned run … Freshman RHP Andrew Cruse earned his first career win on Sunday hurling a career-high five 1/3 innings of relief to pick up the victory … Cruse allowed one run on four hits with two strikeouts and two walks … Sophomore RHP Conor Lalor worked the final three innings of Sunday’s game to pick up his first career save … Lalor retired all nine batters he faced, five with strikeouts … Junior INF Steven Tolleson continues to have the hot bat for the Gamecocks batting 8-for-13 (.615) with eight RBI this weekend vs. Radford … Tolleson hit a two-run game-winning HR in Sunday’s game and had two triples in Saturday’s 16-4 win, the 12th player in USC history to record the feat … Tolleson is batting a team-high .538 on the year (14-for-26) with three doubles, two triples, a home run and 14 RBI … Five of six games this season Tolleson has recorded two or more hits including three games with three hits … Junior OF Michael Campbell is also off to a strong start for Carolina … Campbell batted 5-for-9 (.556) vs. Radford and is batting .524 on the year (11-for-21) on the season … Senior OF Brendan Winn had USC’s first multi-HR game of the year with two in Sunday’s win over Radford … Winn hit the Gamecocks’ first grand slam of the year and a solo home run for five RBI in Sunday’s win … Winn has three homers on the year for Carolina … Sophomore DH Jon Willard also had a solid weekend vs. Radford batting 7-for-12 (.583) … In Friday’s 20-0 win, the Gamecocks had 10 doubles on the afternoon, one short of the USC single-game record set last year vs. Charleston Southern … South Carolina has homered in all six games this year with nine as a team on the season … The Gamecocks are batting .353 as a team with 65 runs scored in six games and 10 or more hits in four of the six games played … Carolina is also having success on the mound as the team owns a 1.83 ERA with 56 strikeouts and 11 walks allowed in 54 innings pitched on the year … South Carolina faces Niagara University next weekend beginning on Friday afternoon at Sarge Frye Field … This is Carolina’s first meeting with the Purple Eagles.

BASEBALL AMERICA        Team    W-L Last Week   Previous    1.  Tulane  7-0 4-0 1    2.  Louisiana State 7-0 5-0 2    3.  Texas   11-0    4-0 4    4.  Cal State Fullerton 5-1 1-0 3    5.  South Carolina  6-0 3-0 7    6.  Georgia 3-0 3-0 9    7.  Miami   8-2 1-2 5    8.  Baylor  5-2 2-2 8    9.  Arizona 9-1 3-1 10    10. North Carolina  4-0 4-0 13    11. Texas A&M   5-2 4-0 14    12. Florida 5-2 3-1 15    13. Stanford    7-5 0-3 614. Rice    7-1 4-0 17    15. Mississippi 3-1 3-1 16    16. Vanderbilt  2-0 2-0 18    17. Georgia Tech    5-1 3-0 21    18. UC Irvine   6-2 1-1 19    19. Washington  1-4 1-1 1220. Notre Dame  3-1 3-1 22    21. Winthrop    8-1 4-1 25    22. Southern California 4-0 1-0 NR23. Florida State   11-1    3-0 NR24. Texas Christian 5-2 2-2 23    25. Oral Roberts    4-2 1-2 24Dropped Out: Arizona State (11), Long Beach State (20).

Collegiate Baseball Newspaper'sNCAA Div. I Poll(As of Feb. 21, 2005)Rank School (Record)    Points      Previous1. Texas (11-0)     497     12. Tulane (7-0)     495     43. Louisiana St. (7-0)      494     54. North Carolina (4-0) 490     75. South Carolina (6-0) 488     86. Cal. St. Fullerton (5-1) 487     37. Rice (7-1)           484     118. Miami, Fla. (8-2)        483     29. Georgia (3-0)        479     910. Arizona (9-1)       471     10
11. Stanford (7-5)       470     612. Texas A&M (5-2)     466     1213. Georgia Tech. (5-1) 463     1414. Florida St. (11-1)      461     1515. Southern California (4-0)   459     1816. Baylor (5-2)        456     1317. Mississippi (3-1)       454     1618. Florida (5-2)       452     2719. Mississippi St. (0-0)   447     1920. U.C. Irvine (6-2)       445     17
21. Notre Dame (3-1)     442     2022. Wichita St. (6-0)       439     2523. Arkansas (6-1)      438     2424. Winthrop (8-1)      436     2625. Oklahoma St. (7-3)  435     2826. Central Florida (7-2)   430     3027. Nebraska (5-0)      428     -28. Texas Tech. (7-1)       425     -29. Texas Christian (5-2)   424     -30. North Carolina St. (7-1)    420     -