Gamecock Baseball Ranked As High As #12

South Carolina Baseball Notebook (USC SID) (Week of April 29 – May 5, 2013) Record: 33-14 SEC: 13-10 Home: 23-6 Away: 10-6 Neutral: 0-2 This Week: 0-2 5/3/13 – vs. Vanderbilt (L, 3-2) 5/4/13 – vs. Vanderbilt (L, 5-2) NOTES: South Carolina is now 33-14 and 13-10 in the SEC after a pair of losses vs. top ranked Vanderbilt this past weekend. The Gamecocks are 33-14 on the year with a 13-10 record in the SEC. South Carolina is in second place in the SEC Eastern Division and fourth place overall in the conference standings. Both games were tight in Columbia with the Gamecocks and Commodores as Carolina fell 3-2 in the series opener followed by a 5-2 defeat on a Saturday. South Carolina is now 7-6 on the year in one-run games as well as 18-11 in games decided by three runs or less. South Carolina is hitting .282 (442-for-1566) as a team with 276 runs scored. The .282 average is fourth best in the league with Carolina leading the SEC with 41 home runs. South Carolina ranks third in slugging percentage (.423) and fourth in on-base percentage (.374) as well. The Gamecock pitching staff owns a 3.07 ERA with 372 strikeouts to 112 walks in 419.0 innings pitched. The ERA ranks sixth best in the SEC. Opponents are hitting only .252 against the staff. South Carolina is fielding .972 as a team, eighth best in the SEC. Senior first baseman LB Dantzler continues to be the top bat in the South Carolina offense. Dantzler is Carolina‘s leading hitter with a .345 average (58-for-168) with 12 homers and 44 RBI. He currently owns a 10-game hitting streak and has reached base safely in 24 straight games. His nine multi-RBI games leads the team with 14 multi-hit games tied for second highest on the team as well. He is third in the SEC in home runs (12) and slugging percentage (.649), fourth in total bases (109), tied for fourth in doubles (13), tied for fourth in walks (29), seventh in on-base percentage (.449), tied for 11th in hits (58) and 12th in batting average (.345). He had two hits in Friday‘s 3-2 loss and tallied a base hit and a run scored in Saturday‘s 5-2 defeat. Senior left-hander Nolan Belcher had a quality start in Friday‘s 3-2 loss. Belcher allowed three runs on six hits in six innings with a walk and six strikeouts. Belcher is 6-5 with a 2.21 ERA in 85.2 innings. He has 71 strikeouts and just 10 walks, opponents are batting just .227 against him. He ranks fourth in innings pitched, tied for sixth in strikeouts, eighth in opposing batting average, tied for eighth in victories and ninth in earned run average. Sophomore shortstop Joey Pankake went 2-for-4 with a RBI double in the 3-2 loss vs. Vanderbilt. Pankake is currently second on the team in hitting with a .310 average (54-for-174). He has nine homers and 32 RBI for the year. He ranks fifth in the SEC in home runs as well as 12th in slugging percentage (.500) and 12th in total bases (87). Senior right-hander Colby Holmes pitched three scoreless innings of relief with a strikeout in the 3-2 loss vs. Vanderbilt. Holmes lowered his ERA to 4.37 in 47.1 innings with 36 strikeouts and 15 walks. Junior outfielder Graham Saiko doubled and scored a run in the 3-2 loss vs. Vanderbilt. Saiko has a .365 on-base percentage for the year with 28 walks to just 13 strikeouts. He is also second on the team with 10 stolen bases. Sophomore right-hander Evan Beal pitched 2.1 scoreless innings of relief with just two hits allowed and a walk in the 5-2 loss to Vanderbilt. Beal lowered his ERA to 4.76. He has 35 strikeouts in 28.1 innings pitched. Freshman second baseman Max Schrock tallied a RBI singled and walked in the 5-2 loss to Vanderbilt. Schrock owns a .276 average (45-for-163) at the plate with seven doubles, two triples, four homers and 32 RBI. He has 29 walks to 17 strikeouts with a .389 on-base percentage. Senior right-hander Patrick Sullivan pitched 1.1 scoreless innings with two hits allowed, a walk and two strikeouts. Sullivan lowered his ERA to 2.78 in 22.2 innings pitched, 15 appearances. Sophomore Kyle Martin hit his first home run of the season, a pinch-hit homer, in Friday‘s 3-2 loss vs. Vanderbilt. The home run was Martin‘s second of his career. His previous homer came March 9, 2012 vs. Princeton. It was the first pinch-hit homer by a Gamecock since Jake Williams on March 8, 2011 vs. Clemson. Freshman left-hander allowed one run on four hits in 2.2 innings of relief in the 5-2 loss to Vanderbilt. Fiori tied a career-high with four strikeouts as well; he previously had four K‘s vs. Charleston Southern on April 2, 2013. He is 1-0 with a 3.72 ERA on the year in 12 relief appearances. Fiori has 19 strikeouts in 19.1 innings. Next Week: 5/8/13 – vs. Wofford (7 p.m.) (FS Carolinas/FS South) 5/10/13 – vs. Georgia (7 p.m.) (SportSouth) 5/11/13 – vs. Georgia (1 p.m.) (CSS) 5/12/13 – vs. Georgia (1:30 p.m.) (SportSouth) All times are Eastern USA TODAY COACHES POLL Rank School (record) Points rank votes 1. North Carolina (42-4) 757 1 15 2. Vanderbilt (41-6) 756 2 15 3. LSU (43-6) 701 3 1 4. Cal State-Fullerton (39-7) 687 4 0 5. Oregon State (37-8) 643 5 0 6. Oregon (37-11) 614 6 0 7. Florida State (38-9) 575 8 0 8. Virginia (39-8) 557 7 0 9. North Carolina State (37-11) 525 10 0 10. UCLA (31-13) 478 11 0 11. Louisville (37-10) 442 12 0 12. South Carolina (33-14) 436 9 0 13. Mississippi State (36-13) 383 15 0 14. Arkansas (32-16) 376 14 0 15. Oklahoma (34-14) 267 13 0 16. Indiana (35-9) 263 17 0 17. Arizona State (30-14-1) 258 16 0 18. Rice (31-15) 211 21 0 19. Oklahoma State (34-12) 182 19 0 20. Mississippi (33-16) 158 18 0 21. Stanford (26-16) 110 25 0 22. Clemson (30-15) 99 22 0 23. UC-Irvine (29-15) 74 20 0 24. Cal Poly (31-14) 61 not ranked 0 25. South Alabama (36-13) 51 not ranked 0 COLLEGIATE BASEBALL Rank Team Record Points Last Week 1. Vanderbilt (41-6) 497 1 2. North Carolina (42-4) 496 2 3. Louisiana St. (43-6) 494 3 4. Cal. St. Fullerton (39-7) 492 4 5. Oregon St. (37-8) 489 5 6. Oregon (37-11) 488 6 7. N.C. State (37-11) 485 7 8. Virginia (39-8) 484 8 9. Florida St. (38-9) 482 9

10. Louisville (37-10) 476 11 11. UCLA (31-13) 473 12 12. Arkansas (32-16) 469 16 13. Oklahoma (34-14) 467 10 14. Arizona St. (30-14-1) 464 13 15. Clemson (30-15) 462 14 16. South Carolina (33-14) 459 15 17. Pittsburgh (36-11) 458 17 18. New Mexico (30-17) 456 18 19. Stanford (26-16) 452 22 20. South Florida (31-16) 448 20 21. Indiana (35-9) 444 21 22. Cal. Poly (31-14) 440 24 23. South Alabama (36-13) 438 25 24. Mississippi St. (36-13) 435 28 25. Troy (35-12) 432 — 26. Rice (31-15) 429 27 27. Mississippi (33-16) 427 26 28. Sam Houston St. (31-17) 424 – 29. Kansas St. (34-15) 421 – 30. Campbell (39-9) 419 29 BASEBALL AMERICA Rk.

Team

W-L

Last Week

Prev. 1.

North Carolina

42-4

1-0

1 2.

Vanderbilt

41-6

2-0

2 3.

Louisiana State

43-6

4-0

3 4.

Cal State Fullerton

39-7

3-0

4 5.

North Carolina State

37-11

3-0

5 6.

Oregon State

37-8

3-0

6 7.

Virginia

39-8

1-0

7 8.

UCLA

31-13

4-0

9 9.

Florida State

38-9

3-0

10 10.

Oregon

37-11

4-1

11 11.

Arkansas

32-16

3-1

14 12.

Louisville

37-10

4-0

13 13.

Arizona State

30-14

2-2

8 14.

Indiana

35-9

1-1

16 15.

South Carolina

33-14

0-2

15 16.

New Mexico

30-17

3-1

17 17.

Rice

31-15

3-1

19 18.

Oklahoma

34-14

1-3

12 19.

Clemson

30-15

0-1

18 20.

South Alabama

36-13

2-1

20 21.

Mississippi State

36-13

3-0

22 22.

Virginia Tech

30-19

3-1

25 23.

South Florida

31-16

2-1

NR 24.

Pittsburgh

36-11

4-1

NR 25.

Stanford

26-16

3-1

NR Dropped out: Florida (21), Kentucky (23), Mississippi (24).