Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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J§!^ a This Week in USC Sports History 1987 - USC third baseman Dave Hollins was drafted by the ■ ■ ■ I I San Diego Padres. Hollins went on to a 10-year Major League V II II I I I ^ icareer among six different teams. Wednesday, June6,2001 I tthC 0amCCOCk ^e9 Nomaha USC loses elimination game 3-2 for second consecutive year by Preston Baines and David Cloninger nTHE Gamecock ball shot across the infield a line and nestled into nford shortstop Scott Dragicevich’s glove, and the Gamecocks were once again denied a chance at NCAA baseball’s top prize — the College World Series. The 3-2 loss to Stanford Sunday ended USC’s season, only one day from an exact year since the Gamecocks dropped a same-situation game to Louisiana-Lafayette by the same score. Tim Whittaker had waited out Stanford’s J. D. Willcox for a pitch to drive into the gap, and with two outs and Garris Gonce representing the tying run at first, Whittaker got what he wanted. It just didn’t quite get to where he intended. “I was trying to get a pitch that I could hit out, he threw a pitch I could hit out and I hit a line drive,” Whittaker said. “The shortstop made a great play on it That’s baseball; these things happen.” Whittaker, who led USC this season in home runs and RBIs, had already knocked four singles Sunday before the last at-bat. But the last appearance of his college career still ended on a sour note. USC coach Ray Tanner picked Blake Taylor to start the game, though he had pitched two innings of Saturday’s 4-3 win over Stanford. Tanner’s decision turned out to be the right one, as Taylor used clutch defense and his trademark slider to keep Stanford at bay. Taylor ran into trouble in the fifth when he hit Jonny Ash with a pitch to start the inning. Ash scored when Andy Topham belted a home run. With the score 2-0, Kip brought in their ace closer, Mike Wodnicki, who gave up a one-out single to Michael Floyd but got out of the inning without further damage. Bouknight showed signs of fatigue in the sixth when he walked Ryan Gaiko and gave up a single to Carlos Quentin to start the inning. After Jason Cooper struck out, Ash drilled a double to right, scoring Gaiko and giving Stanford all the runs it would need. ‘1 was trying to do all I could to help my team win today. Unfortunately, I gave up a run and it ended up being the winning run,” Bouknight said. “Our guys gave a vety solid effort.” Whittaker singled to start the eighth and moved to second on a Bryon Jeffcoat sacrifice bunt. Tripp Kelly, who had a two-run double Saturday, lashed another double to the right-field wall to score Whittaker and make the score 3-2. Wodnicki left the game and was replaced by J.D. Willcox, who gave up an infield single to pinch hitter Baseball seemgeio Sean Rayford/The Gamecock Chris Plummer, right, and Drew Meyer realize the Gamecocks’ chances for the College World Series are getting smaller. Gamecocks shouldn't be ashamed David Cloninger Who Else? 3-2 score. Three outs to go. Omaha’s on the line. Again. And once again, some Other team took South Carolina’s berth in the College World Series while I cursed the gods of baseball and wondered if voodoo was really just a figment of the imagination. There’s got to be a reason — bad karma, spoiled Gatorade before the game, an untied shoelace, something — for the Gamecocks’ season to be ended like this for two years straight. Last year, it was expected for USC to go to Omaha, and it was a stinging blow to everybody’s pride when they didn’t. This year, it wasn’t expected, which made it that much sweeter when USC pulled off a two-game sweep to advance to the Super Regionals two weekends ago. Sure, Stanford has a great team, which is evidenced by its three consecutive trips to the College World Series and the 11 1 hammering it laid on the Gamecocks last Friday. But USC fought back, winning Game 2 behind several stalwart performances to stay alive and force a tiebreaker. Everything seemed to be falling into place, as the Gamecocks prepared to end a 16 year drought from the promised land. So why didn’t it happen? The only answer I came up with: It just didn’t. Right now, the loss hurts, as it should. But, let’s look back at the season the Gamecocks completed. The team came in with a strike against it because people knew ClONINGER see page 11 Bouknight came in to relieve Taylor. Though Bouknight had been shelled in one of the worst appearances of his career Friday, he looked to be in command as he got USC out of the inning. With memories of Bouknight’s heroics in the regionals against Central Florida to remind them, the Gamecocks began to rally. Marcus McBeth broke USC’s three-game home run-less streak with a solo shot to lead off the sixth, making the score 2-1 and knocking Stanford’s Jeff Bruksch from the game. The Cardinal