Saturday's NCAA Super Regional Roundup

Jamie Paige

It was a tough first day of Super Regional action for Conference USA. South Carolina took game one from East Carolina, 4-2, in the best of three series in the Columbia Super Regional while Tulane was shutout by Cal State Fullerton, 9-0, in the Fullerton Super Regional. Both teams are back in action on Sunday in must-win situations.

SOUTH CAROLINA 4, EAST CAROLINA 2
South Carolina's Matt Campbell tossed five scoreless innings and the Gamecocks pushed across two runs in the sixth after a four hour and 28 minute rain delay as South Carolina took game one, 4-2, in the best of three series in the Columbia Super Regional Saturday.

Ryan Norwood and Jamie Paige each had two hits, but the Pirates (51-12) stranded eight base runners including six in the first five innings.
Campbell (10-4) struck out six Pirates in the first five innings. Jason Fletcher pitched 2 2/3innings allowing two earned runs before Chad Blackwell came on to record his 18th save.

ECU junior right-hander Greg Bunn (10-1) started the game and pitched well striking out eight batters, but he allowed two runs on five hits in five innings. Matt Bishop tossed 1/3 of an inning and Dustin Sasser finished out the game striking out three in 2 2/3 innings.

East Carolina trailed 4-0 heading into the top of the eighth. With two outs, Ryan Jones doubled off the wall and scored on Norwood's 34th double tying the Conference USA record for doubles in a season pulling the Pirates within, 4-1. Mike Grace singled up the middle to score Norwood as ECU only trailed 4-2.

Trevor Lawhorn reached base on an error by the shortstop to lead off the top of the ninth. The Pirates brought the tying run to the plate three straight times, but Blackwell retired all three batters to end the game.

South Carolina manufactured runs to jump out to a 2-0 lead after five innings. Landon Powell's RBI single through the right side scored Bryan Triplett giving the Gamecocks a 1-0 lead. Michael Campbell led off the fifth inning with a double and advanced to third on Davy Gregg's sacrifice bunt. Steven Tolleson's squeeze bunt scored Campbell putting USC ahead, 2-0.

The game was then halted for four hours and 28 minutes before it resumed at 7:06 p.m. heading into the top of the sixth.

Steven Pearce extended the Gamecock lead to 3-0 when he led off the bottom of the sixth with a solo home run. Powell made it 4-0 when he scored on single by Michael Campbell.

Michael Campbell finished the game 2-for-3 for the Gamecocks. ECU and South Carolina will resume the series Sunday at 12 p.m. The Pirates will serve as the home team. The game will be broadcast live on ESPN with regional coverage in North Carolina and South Carolina.


Titans' starter Jason Windsor struck out seven in an eight-inning effort and catcher Kurt Suzukie went 2-for-3 with an RBI-triple and a pair of intentional walks as Cal State Fullerton defeated the Tulane University baseball team 9-0 in game one of the 2004 NCAA Fullerton Super Regional Saturday evening at Goodwin Field.

The Green Wave (41-20) and Titans (41-21) will play again on Saturday with first pitch slated for 8:07 p.m. Tulane now finds themselves in must-win situation as the first team in the Super Regional with two wins advances to the College World Series. In their previous trip to the Supers, Tulane dropped the opening game of the 2001 New Orleans Super Regional 4-3 to arch-rival LSU before battling back to take the next two games, 9-4 and 7-1.

The Green Wave tallied just five hits on the afternoon - two by junior left fielder Wes Swackhamer - but Windsor was in control from start to finish as he allowed just two Tulane players to reach scoring position. He did not walk a batter on the night and allowed more than one baserunner just once to improve to 11-4 on the year.

His Tulane counterpart, Bogusevic, did not fare as well as the big lefty was roughed up for eight runs on 14 hits in a 4.2-inning start. Matt Goebel came on in relief with two out in the fifth, and limited Cal State Fullerton to just one run on five hits over the final 3.1 innings, but the damage was already done.

The Titans wasted little time jumping on the Green Wave as second baseman Justin Turner hit a leadoff double and scored two batters later on an RBI-triple by Suzuki to break a scoreless tie in the first. First baseman P.J. Pelittere plated Suzuki with a groundout in the ensuing at-bat

The second inning followed a similar script as designated hitter Felipe Garcia hit a leadoff double off the wall in center, went to second on a single by shortstop Neil Walton and scored an a base knock by third baseman Ronnie Prettyman. Cal State Fullerton could have got more out of the frame, but Bogusevic picked off Prettyman at first, and the Green Wave defense caught Walton trying to score from second on a single by Turner to end the inning without any more damage done.

Following a pair of scoreless frames, the Titans got back to work with a single by centerfielder Clark Hardman and an intentional walk to Suzuki. The Green Wave had a couple of chances to thwart the rally as Pelittere hit a shot to left that bounced out of the glove of a diving Swackhamer to load the bases, and left fielder Danny Dorn followed with an RBI-single that Green Wave second baseman Joe Holland smothered but had no play to give Cal State Fullerton a 4-0 advantage.

From there, Garcia and right fielder Bobby Andrews hit back-to-back, two-RBI doubles to inflate the lead to 8-0, but Tulane was able to stop the bleeding when Andrews got caught trying to steal third, but Titan shortstop Neil Walton singled to chase Bogusevic from the game. After walking Prettyman, sophomore reliever Matt Goebel issued a walk to Prettyman, and after falling behind 3-0 to Turner, got a fielder's choice ground ball to get out of the inning.

Tulane had something cooking in the seventh as Bogusevic hit a leadoff single and Swackhamer ripped a one-out double to left, but Windsor would quiet any talks of a comeback by getting a popup by senior infielder Brian Bormaster and a can-of-corn flyout to left.

Fullerton would close out the scoring in the bottom of the frame when right fielder Bobby Andrews hit a leadoff single, went to second on a groundout by Walton and touched the paystation on an RBI single up the middle by Prettyman that ricocheted off the glove of junior shortstop Tommy Manzella.

Tulane will send sophomore southpaw J.R. Crowel to the mound on Sunday. If the Green Wave win on Sunday, game three of the Super Regional will be played on Monday with the start time still to be determined. Both games will be televised live on ESPN2.