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IPic (5 am ccork Baseball CONTINUED FROM PAGE 9 Matt Riddle. With the go-ahead run on first, one out and national save leader Lee Gronkiewicz ready in the dugout, USC needed a big hit. But, Riddle and Kelly were left stranded, two of 11 USC baserunners on the day, as Trey Dyson flew out and McBeth hit into a fielder’s choice. '.In the ninth, Drew Meyer and Floyd each worked Willcox to 3-2 counts, but couldn’t get on base. Gonce also waited out a 3-2 count, and was rewarded when Willcox tried to sneak a fastball inside and hit Gonce instead. Gonce had already been hit once by Bruksch and received a broken nose for the effort, but still stayed in the game, pausing just long enough to change his bloodied jersey. However, Gonce was lett on hrst, forever 270 feet away from Omaha as Whittaker’s line drive came to nil. Tanner, who has never been to Omaha and has vowed not to go until he takes a team there, had a hard time controlling his emotions afterward. “I’m very disappointed, especially for our seniors,” Tanner said. “I probably wanted their season to extend as much as any senior class I've ever had.” USC’s season ended at 49-20, and also completed the careers of eight Gamecocks. Also, USC is expected to have at least three more juniors taken in the Major League Baseball draft, which began Tuesday. USC'4, Stanford 3 — Game 2 Last Sunday, Tripp Kelly disregarded his .253 season batting average and smashed a two-run homer that paved the way for a 5-2 victory over Central Florida and a trip to the Super Regionals. Saturday, Kelly stepped up again and hit a two-run double in the fifth inning to help USC beat Stanford, 4-3. “It just feels good to keep contributing whenever I can,” Kelly said. “If it’s one hit when we need it, that’d be good enough for me.” The Gamecocks came into the game with no room for error, considering one loss would end their season. But, coach Ray Tanner saw no reason to panic, since his squad had faced the same situation last weekend and still triumphed. “After the thrashing yesterday, to come back and win a nail-biter today is a tremendous effort,” Tanner said. ‘Tm so proud of my players.” Stanford’s Mike Gosling lived up to his billing as Carolina’s offense through the first five innings was limited to two Marcus McBeth walks. The Cardinal had already jumped on USC starter Gary Bell for a two-run lead and looked to be cruising. Kelly had other ideas. After a Brennan Dees single scored Tim Whittaker and moved Bryon Jeffcoat to second, Kelly lined a sharp double that curled fair by a foot down the third-base line. The hit scored both Jeffcoat and Dees and gave USC its first lead of the series at 3-2. Kelly’s heroics also chased Gosling from the game, giving him his second consecutive loss after beginning the season 7-0. The Gamecocks added a run in the sixth when Whittaker hit a double to left-center field, scoring Garris Gonce and giving USC all the momentum it would need. “I was just trying to get a pitch to hit, and he was sneaking some great pitches on me,” Whittaker said. “I was just trying to foul off what I could and he left a changeup over the plate and I luckily stuck my bat out and it went over the second baseman’s head.” The Cardinal wouldn’t go quietly, scoring a run in the seventh when Scott Dragicevich slid under Whittaker’s tag on a sacrifice fly. Tanner wasted no time, pulling Blake Taylor in favor of Lee Gronkiewicz. Carlos Quentin reached third in the eighth thanks to a Chris Plummer error, a Jason Cooper walk and an Andy Topham sacrifice bunt. But, Gronkiewicz struck out Jonny Ash and coaxed a Dragicevich popup to end the threat. “South Carolina earned it,” Stanford coach Mark Marquess said. “I think the difference in the game was they bunched their hits and when they had an opportunity with runners on base they came up with a big hit. On the flipside, when we had guys on base we didn’t come up with the big hit.” Gronkiewicz picked up his nation leading 19th save while Taylor got the win. Kelly also recorded the last out when Sam Fuld grounded to first. Stanford 11, USC 1-Game 1 South Carolina hurler Kip Bouknight went into Friday night’s Super Regional hoping to get his team off to the same start as he had the previous year against Louisiana Lafayette. In that game, Bouknight put together a brilliant performance and placed the Gamecocks one win away from Omaha. The result of that series didn’t match Bouknight’s performance, as USC lost the next two games. Friday, Bouknight’s performance also placed the Gamecocks one game away, but from being eliminated, not from Omaha. The fourth-seeded Stanford Cardinal (47-15) battered Bouknight (10-4) for three-plus innings as if he was throwing batting practice, en route to an 11-1 thrashing of the Gamecocks. “It was a situation where I made some bad pitches in bad situations,” Bouknight said. “We wanted to get off to a good start, but now we’re in a hole. Well, we’ve been in a hole before.” The Cardinal wasted no time getting on the board. After Bouknight retired the first two batters in the top of the first, Ryan Garko crushed a towering home run over the center field wall. Alter Boukmght labored through the second inning, the floodgates opened in the third. Chris O’Riordan avenged his first fly ball out with a bomb over the left field fence. The onslaught continued after Sam Fuld was retired. The Cardinal hit two straight singles and a long flyout to put runners on the comers with two outs. Andy Topham lined an RBI single to center and then scored when Scott Dragicevich doubled down the right field line to make it 5-0 Stanford. The fourth inning didn’t fare much better for USC. O’Riordan again lead off the inning in good shape, doubling on a high chopper over third baseman ChrisPlummer’s head. The next two batters reached base with a walk and a single to center to load the bases. With the bases loaded, Brett Price came in to relieve Bouknight. Carlos Quentin greeted Price with a run-scoring single to center. Price threw a wild pitch and issued back-to-back walks to increase the lead to 8-0. Two more runs crossed the plate when Price balked in a run from third base and Dragicevich hit a sacrifice grounder. While the Cardinal bats were hot, the Gamecocks couldn’t get anything going against the pinpoint control of Stanford starter Jeremy Guthrie (12 4). Guthrie allowed one unearned run while tossing a complete game. “It was easy to relax with that lead,” Guthrie said. “I just went out there andthrew strikes.” “We never were able to get into it because of what JeremyGuthrie did on the mound,” Tanner said. The Gamecocks scratched their only run in the eighth whenSheldon Brown drew a bases-loaded walk with one out., but it wasn’t nearly enough. Special to The Gamecock The USC women’s track team poses with their fourth-place trophy from the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships. Women's track team finishes in fourth Track & Field Roundup The Gamecock The USC men’s and women’s track programs competed in the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Eugene, Ore., last weekend, with both teams bringing home hardware. The women’s team matched its best-ever finish by finishing fourth, matching the result at the 1997 championships. The men finished 19th. Southern California finished first in the women’s division with 65 points. Fellow Pac-10 conference teams UCLA and Arizona finished behind the Trojans in second and third place, respectively. ine trio oi uemetria Washington, Miki Barber and Lisa Barber once again led the Lady Gamecocks. Together, the three garnered 11 All-American honors. “The ladies did an excellent job. They fought through so much adversity this week,” USC coach Curtis Frye said. “There are no disappointments with fourth place. Everybody made their contributions.” In the individual events, the women’s 4x400 meter relay team, consisting of Lisa Barber, Sheneka Griffin, Tacita Bass and Washington, ran a 3:32.76, finishing third behind Clemson and Texas. It was the first time since April 2000 USC hasn’t won the event. “I was happy to step up and run for Miki in the 4x400 relay. I was tired, but it’s a team thing,” Bass said. “I am happy we finished fourth. We all competed so hard this weekend.” Washington, who collected four individual All-American honors, shows no disappointment in either her or her team’s performance. “I am happy and blessed I was able to compete with so many outstanding athletes this week,” Washington said. “We’re happy with our team finish. We have nothing to hang our heads about.” In the men’s division, USC finished 19th, with Tennessee winning tne national cnampionstup. While the finish might seem disappointing, Frye sees a bright future on the horizon. “The men in 19th is nice. We have something to build on for next year,” Frye said. “We have a great group of coaches who got this team ready. We also have a great group of athletic trainers that had them ready all year long.” The event also saw a career come to an end as senior Pap Howard ran for the final time as a Gamecock. He was seventh in the 200-meter with a time of 21 seconds. Howard finishes his career at USC as a six-time All-American.