Tigers Fall to #2 Gamecocks, 6-3

---

CLEMSON, SC -- The biggest game in the history of the baseball series between

Clemson and South Carolina was no contest.

No. 2 South Carolina (33-4) grabbed a quick lead and survived a brief threat

by No. 8 Clemson (29-8) to take a 6-3 win in front of 6,134 at Doug

Kingsmore Stadium Wednesday night.

"I feels awfully good to come here in front of a packed house and get a

win," said South Carolina coach Ray Tanner. "It says a lot about your club."

South Carolina's freshman shortstop Drew Meyer gave the Gamecocks a quick

2-0 lead with a homerun over the right field fence. Meyer, the second batter

in the game, hit a Scott Berney (7-3) pitch out with leadoff hitter Nate

Janowicz on first.

Brandon Pack added a run in the third with a homerun to right that gave

South Carolina a 3-0 lead.

That was nearly all South Carolina starter Kip Bouknight (10-0) needed to

win.

"It's hard to come back when you give him a 3-0 lead and then later a 5-0

lead," said Clemson coach Jack Leggett.

Janowicz drove in two more in the fourth with a single after Marcus McBeth

reached on a double down the left field line and Chris Plummer reached on a

single. John McHenry was hit by a pitch to load the bases and Janowicz drove

a pitch from reliever Thomas Boozer up the middle to drive in McBeth and

Plummer.

Clemson scored a run in the bottom of the fifth to cut the lead to 5-1.

Michael Johnson reached on a single to lead off the inning. Meyer botched a

double play ground ball by Jarrod Schmidt to set up an RBI single by Casey

Stone.

South Carolina added a run in the top of the sixth. Meyer drove in Plummer

with a sacrifice fly to give South Carolina a 6-1 lead.

However, Clemson responded with two runs in the bottom of the inning. And it

was nearly many more runs.

Jeff Baker, Patrick Boyd and Brian Ellis loaded the bases for Clemson with

consecutive singles. The next batter, Michael Johnson, drove the ball to

deep right field where it hit the top of the fence. The scoreboard had

already showed four runs scoring for Clemson when Johnson had to stop with

an RBI-single.

"It's a game of inches," said Leggett. "We wanted to make sure that he

didn't make a running catch on it."

Schmidt drove in Boyd with a sacrifice fly to cut the South Carolina lead to

6-3. However, the inning ended without any more damage by Clemson after

Ellis was thrown out at the plate on a ball hit back to Bouknight.

The two teams play again next Wednesday night.

BOXSCORE

South Carolina 6 (33-4)                                             Clemson 3 (29-8)


Name (Pos)                 AB  R  H RBI  BB SO PO  A LOB   Avg      Name (Pos)                 AB  R  H RBI  BB SO PO  A LOB   Avg


--------------------------------------------------------------      --------------------------------------------------------------


Janowicz, Nate lf.........  4  1  2  2    1  0  2  0   2            Stone, Casey rf...........  5  0  1  1    0  0  3  0   3


Meyer, Drew ss............  4  1  1  3    0  1  1  4   0            Stanley, Henri lf.........  5  0  0  0    0  0  1  0   0


Dees, Brennan rf..........  5  0  1  0    0  0  2  0   4            Greene, Khalil 3b.........  3  0  0  0    1  2  1  2   2


Pack, Brandon c...........  5  1  1  1    0  2 10  1   1            Baker, Jeff ss............  3  1  1  0    1  1  1  2   0


Dyson, Trey dh............  4  0  0  0    0  2  0  0   0            Boyd, Patrick cf..........  4  1  1  0    0  1  4  0   0


Kelly, Tripp 1b...........  4  0  1  0    0  1 10  0   0            Ellis, Brian c............  4  0  1  0    0  2  8  0   2


McBeth, Marcus cf.........  4  1  2  0    0  1  1  0   0            Johnson, Michael 1b.......  3  1  2  1    1  0  8  1   0


Plummer, Chris 3b.........  3  2  1  0    1  0  1  0   0            Schmidt, Jarrod dh........  3  0  0  1    0  2  0  0   1


McHenry, John 2b..........  3  0  1  0    0  1  0  3   0            LeCroy, Bradley 2b........  4  0  1  0    0  2  0  2   0


Bouknight, Kip p..........  0  0  0  0    0  0  0  1   0            Berney, Scott p...........  0  0  0  0    0  0  1  0   0


 Barber, Scott p........... 0  0  0  0    0  0  0  0   0             Boozer, Thomas p.......... 0  0  0  0    0  0  0  0   0


                                                                     Lynn, Kevin p............. 0  0  0  0    0  0  0  0   0


Totals.................... 36  6 10  6    2  8 27  9   7            Totals.................... 34  3  7  3    3 10 27  7   8


Score by innings:                      R  H  E


----------------------------------------------


South Carolina        201 201 000   -  6 10  1


Clemson               000 012 000   -  3  7  0


----------------------------------------------


E - MEYER(17).


LOB - S. Carolina 7, Clemson 8.


2B - KELLY(10), McBETH(6).


HR - MEYER(7), PACK(11).


SF - MEYER(1), SCHMIDT(2).


South Carolina         IP   H   R  ER  BB  SO  AB BF   ERA  NP      Clemson                IP   H   R  ER  BB  SO  AB BF   ERA  NP


--------------------------------------------------------------      --------------------------------------------------------------


Bouknight, Kip......  8.0   7   3   2   3   9  31 35         -      Berney, Scott.......  3.1   7   5   5   0   2  17 18         -


Barber, Scott.......  1.0   0   0   0   0   1   3  3         -      Boozer, Thomas......  2.1   2   1   1   2   2   8 11         -


                                                                    Lynn, Kevin.........  3.1   1   0   0   0   4  11 11         -


Win - BOUKNIGHT 10-0.  Loss - BERNEY 7-3.  Save - BARBER (8).


HBP - by BERNEY (McHENRY).


Umpires - Home:John Floyd  1st:Richie Tallent  3rd:Mike Guerry


Start: 7:18   Time: 2:29   Attendance: 6134

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