Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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LO THE GAMECOCK ♦ Wednesday, June 5,2002 this week IN use sports history jUa IALi I Lo '?*, 1^1 » |i I l i 1981: The USC baseball team loses to Arizona State in 7-mail us at gamecocksports@hotmail.com _L Vv 1L-L K_y the second game of the College World Series. Home Cooking PHOTO BY ROBERT GRUEN/THE GAMECOCK ian Buscher congratulates Yaron Peters after a homerun against North Carolina during Saturday’s JAA Regional game. BY J. KEITH ALLEN TIIF i.AMECDCK Amidst boiling heat, the bat of ron Peters and the arm of Blake ylor propelled the USC baseball tm past the competition in the 1AA Regionals last weekend at rge Frye Field. The temperature vered near 100 degrees for each the games as the Gamecocks ad nced to the NCAA Super gionals for the third consecutive ir. Peters was named tournament /P aftej posting a .625 batting av ige, and Landon Powell, Drew •yer, Justin Harris, Steve Thomas i Taylor were also added to the -Tournament team. USC will face ami this weekend, iday: USC 6, VCU 3 Carolina squared off against •ginia Commonwealth Friday :ht and ran into a brick wall by name of Davy Martin. The VCU rler retired the first 12 batters, 1 his batters helped him to a 1-0 d. However, Peters led off the , h inning with a home run, and was followed by two solo blasts by Garris Gonce and Harris. Carolina starter Gary Bell, coming off his complete game win over Arkansas in the SEC Tournament, went eight and two-third innings to earn the victory Bell ran into trouble in the ninth inning, putting two runners on base with one out. He uncorked a wild pitch, and a two-out single by Jeff Parrish Cut the margin to 6-3. Freshman Aaron Rawl was brought out of the bullpen and allowed two singles to load the bases. He retired Matt Davis on a fly ball to right field to get of the jam and earn the save and preserve Bell's 20th career vic tory, the 14th USC pitcher in histo ry to achieve that milestone. Afterwards, USC Head Coach Ray Tanner was pleased with his team’s performance in the opening game. "We had a couple of big home runs and we were able to win. Gary Bell settled in and enabled us to win," Tanner said. The victory set up a historic bor der battle with North Carolina on Saturday afternoon. Saturday: USC 9, UNC 6 USC defeated their northern foes for their 50th win of the year in a sweltering slugfest and advanced to the Regional championship game for the third consecutive year. The Gamecocks scored nine runs on 14 hits, including a six run outburst in the first inning highlighted by home runs by Peters and a three-run shot to left center by Powell. Pitcher David Marchbanks was the recipient of the early runs but could not contain the Tarheels who clawed their way back into the game sending ten batters to the plate and scoring four runs in the fourth in ning. Tanner brought Chris Spigner out of the bullpen, and the right hander shut down the UNC attack, allowing one hit over two innings to earn the win in relief. Spigner was followed by John Wesley, who held the Tarheels hit ♦ BASEBALL, SEE PAGE 11 YARON IS IN A LEAGUE OF HIS OWN Y J. KEITH ALLEN THE GAMECOCK The last two weeks have been anything but average for Yaron Peters. During that time span the Gamecock first baseman has suf fered an injury, was named SEC Player of the Year and national All American, and also broke two school records while powering his team past North Carolina in the NCAA Regional Tournament. After starting every game of the season for Carolina Peters pulled a hamstring during the SEC title-clenching win over Georgia on May 19. At the time of the injury Peters led the conference in both home runs (21) and RBIs (79), but was sidelined for p Baseball Magazine. Peter's gaudy offensive numbers and national ac colades are a far cry from his first season in the garnet and black where he had only 27 at-bats, a .148 average and two home runs. USC trailed Virginia Commonwealth 1-0 in the fifth in ning in their first Regional game Friday night, up against a com manding starting pitcher. VCU right-hander Davy Martin retired the first 12 USC batters in order and quieted the capacity crowd making it readily apparent why he was named National Player of the Week earlier in the season. Peters dug in at the plate and promptly de posited a Martin fastball over the leftfield fence tying the score, and ♦ PETERS, SEE PAGE 11 the tirst three games of the SEC tournament. After returning to action on May 25 against Louisiana State Peters ripped a two-run double and earned a key walk to trigger USC's game-win ning rally in the eighth inning. The Gamecocks re turned from the SEC Tournament in Hoover, AL and Peters was recognized for his breakout sea son, his first as a starter for Carolina. The Sherman Oaks, CA native was named SEC Player of the Year, and along with pitcher Blake Taylor and shortstop Drew Meyer earned All-American honors from Collegiate PHOTO BY ROBERT GRUEN/THE GAMECOCK USC Head Coach Ray Tanner consults with Peters before an at-bat.