The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, June 06, 2001, Page 10, Image 10
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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.