Gamecocks rock Bulldogs joint

ATHENS, Ga. - After watching his South Carolina team homer eight times off Georgia, including a record five in the row, Gamecock Coach Ray Tanner pointed to some clutch pitching by starter Harris Honeycutt as the turning point in a 15-6 NCAA Super Regional win on Saturday.

Ordinarily, a 9-0 lead after two innings would be considered safe, but on May 26, South Carolina also had a 9-0 lead after two innings and lost when this same Georgia team rallied for a 16-10 win in the Southeastern Conference tournament.

"Getting out of the blocks was important," said Tanner. "It gave us a chance to relax, but we didn't think it was over. The deciding point was in the second and third innings when Georgia had some opportunities.

"I was not thinking about the SEC tournament," said Tanner of Georgia's bases-loaded situations in those two innings. "I was thinking that Harris had a chance to do some damage."

Honeycutt (7-0) walked in a run, but he prevented any big rallies with weak, inning-ending grounders.

"A lot of times I do find myself in trouble," said Honeycutt. "So I try to dig deep and make quality pitches."

"When we didn't get anything in the second and the third, I knew it would be a tough game," said Georgia Coach David Perno.

Staked to a 3-0 lead in the first on Andrew Crisp's homer, South Carolina (41-23) got consecutive homers in the second from Neil Giesler, Justin Smoak, Phil Disher, Crisp and Robbie Grinestaff to take a 9-0 lead. Starter and loser Mickey Westphal (7-2) gave up the first three and reliever Stephen Dodson the other two. All five came with two out in the inning.

South Carolina tied the collegiate record set by Eastern Illinois against Morehead State in the fifth inning of their game April 10, 1998.

Tanner said that South Carolina pitching coach Mark Calvi complained in the dugout that "these solo homers are going to kill us."

"I didn't even know we had five in a row," said Tanner. "I guess I got lost in the game."

Grinestaff knew.

"I had seen four go out," he said. "I knew the guys would be on me if I didn't get one."

Catcher Ian Paxton was the unlucky third out, a fly to the left field warning track.

James Darnell and Grinestaff added three-run homers to put Georgia (45-21) in a must-win situation in Sunday's game. Georgia has never lost an NCAA elimination game in Athens.

Georgia will start Brooks Brown (4-3), picked by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the supplemental portion of the first round of the Major League draft earlier this week. The Gamecocks will pitch Mike Cisco (7-4).

Georgia never mounted a rally Saturday, plus the Gamecocks did not stop hitting, collecting 11 singles to go with those eight home runs, one short of the post-season record set by Southern Illinois against Ball State May 29, 1969.

"We kept playing, but we never could really stop them for any length of time," said Perno.

Honeycutt (7-0) became the first Gamecock pitcher to solve Georgia this year. The Bulldogs also swept the Gamecocks in a three-game SEC series here in early May.

Jonathan Wyatt's RBI triple highlighted Georgia's three-run rally in the seventh. Joey Side's RBI triple in the ninth led to two more runs.