The Daily Gamecock

Issue date: 2/25/08 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Ben Fine, The Daily Gamecock USC pitcher Blake Cooper

The South Carolina baseball team came into the season opener with a tough opponent in East Carolina University. The Pirates entered the weekend as the No. 24 best team in the country, while South Carolina was ranked as high as No. 2 in some polls.

"This is an opening series, but it's a Super Regional atmosphere," said USC coach Ray Tanner.

Friday night's scheduled season opener was rained out and moved to Saturday as part of a doubleheader. The games occurred before and after Saturday's men's basketball game.

The wild weekend of baseball began Saturday at 1:30 p.m. as the Gamecocks routed the Pirates in a 22-5 victory by scoring early and often.

Junior starter Mike Cisco showed good command as he gave up one run on five hits in five innings of work.

To go along with solid pitching, South Carolina's highly touted offense put on a clinic as it pounded out 19 hits to produce 22 runs. Reese Havens led the onslaught, going five for six with five RBIs and four runs scored.

The nightcap of the double header on Saturday produced nearly opposite results of the early game that same day. East Carolina used a five-run third inning and a four-run fifth inning to propel themselves to a 13-4 victory.

The Gamecocks would commit four errors in a game that featured ugly fielding and pitching.

Gamecock starter Blake Cooper would last only three innings, allowing six runs (three earned) while throwing an astonishing 85 pitches.

Reliever Parker Bangs took the ball for Cooper but fared no better. Bangs allowed five runs, all earned, on four hits and two walks while lasting only one-and-one-third innings.

"We have to do a better job on the mound, that's for sure, but we made it a little tough on Blake Cooper. We didn't make enough plays for him," Tanner said.

The rubber game of the series was a thrilling end to an already fantastic series. South Carolina would take a five-to-four lead into the top of the ninth inning.

Curtis Johnson, who came on in relief of first-time starter Craig Thomas, held the Pirates in check from the fifth inning to the ninth, when he gave up a single run to tie the game at five apiece.

"It was great to see Curtis Johnson give us a chance to win," Tanner said. "I didn't want to put him in that spot, but I thought the game was on the line at that point."

In extra innings, freshman reliever Sam Dyson would give up the lead off a single, which drove in the go-ahead run.

In the bottom of the 11th, however, Carolina would load the bases for catcher Kyle Enders. After an intense and hard-fought at bat, Enders would single to center, driving in two runs to win the game.

"It's a team effort, and you don't know who you're going to have up at the plate in a given situation," Enders said following his game-winning heroics. "Whoever it is, we just have to trust everyone to come through in a situation like that."

Next up for the Gamecocks is a mid-week game against UNC-Asheville on Wednesday. The game is at 3 p.m. at Sarge Frye Field.

Page 1 of 1

Article Tools