CofC Prepares for South Carolina

College of Charleston (21-8, 11-4) returns home on Wednesday to face #10 South Carolina (20-8, 3-6) in an intrastate battle at Patriots Point at 6 p.m. The sold-out game will be broadcast live on ESPN3 and aired on ESPN 910 AM.

College of Charleston enters Wednesday’s game with the Gamecocks after a tough weekend series at Georgia Southern where the Eagles slipped by with two wins in three games. Every game was a pitcher’s duel as the total run output for the three games was just 9-8. Friday saw GSU’s Chris Beck toss 16 strikeouts in a 4-2 GSU win. Brandon Murray homered for the Cougars for his team-best 8th long ball of the season.

On Saturday, CofC hurler Christian Powell threw a gem, completing seven shutout innings with five strikeouts and just three hits that propelled CofC to a 4-1 victory. Tyler Jackson hit a three-run homer to spark the Cougars offense in the win.

Despite a solo home run from Bradley Goodson on Sunday, College of Charleston could not overcome a two-run sixth inning that gave Georgia Southern the lead for good in a tense 4-2 contest.

The weekend snapped College of Charleston’s streak of nine straight conference victories and three straight weekend sweeps.

On Air

Wednesday’s game will be broadcast live on ESPN3 as well as ESPN 910 AM in the Charleston area. Jeff McCarragher and Nate Ross will be doing play-by-play and color commentary.

Series Notes

The Cougars and Gamecocks have met 32 times with South Carolina holding a 29-3 advantage, including a seven-game winning streak. In the teams’ last meeting in April 2011 at Patriots Point, USC used a four-run seventh inning to break open a 4-3 game and go on to win 8-3.

Probable Starters

LHP #25 Adam Westmoreland     S. Carolina           1-0, 2.70 ERA, 3 BB, 10 K                              

RHP #29 Ryan West                         CofC                      2-2, 3.38 ERA, 7 BB, 26 K

Scouting the Gamecocks

South Carolina entered the 2012 season with high expectations after winning back-to-back national championships in 2010 and 2011. This season, the Gamecocks have scored signature wins over Clemson before losing SEC series to Kentucky and Florida. South Carolina regrouped this past weekend and took two out of three games at Vanderbilt.

First baseman Christian Walker leads the team with a .333 batting average and is among the SEC leaders for RBIs (28). Joey Pankake and Evan Marzilli have also been offensive sparks for the Gamecocks as Pankake is hitting .325 and Marzilli has a .319 batting average with 13 RBI and a team-best seven doubles.

Wednesday starter Adam Westmoreland will be making his third start of the season with a 2.70 ERA. His only win came in a 5-2 victory over Charleston Southern on March 13.

CofC In the Statistical Rankings

The Cougars currently lead the SoCon in pitching with a team ERA of 2.31 and an opposing batting average of just .211. The staff ERA ranks third nationally, while the Cougars are fifth in the NCAA in hits allowed per nine innings (6.93).

Christian Powell leads the league with an ERA of 1.11, which puts him ninth in the country.  Matt Pegler is second in the Southern Conference with an ERA of 2.11, while Wednesday starter Ryan West leads the league with opponent batting average of just .198.

David Peterson is tied for first place in the SoCon for saves with seven. That mark ranks 12th nationally.

Marty Gantt leads the conference and is eighth in the country in runs scored with 34 and is fifth in the SoCon in batting average (.389). Gantt’s slugging percentage of .655 ranks fourth in the league and his on-base percentage of .478 is third.

The Cougars are 11th in the NCAA in home runs per game with 1.04 per contest.

Gantt’s Consistent Play

Marty Gantt has led the team all season in batting average after opening with a strong series at South Alabama. Gantt recently snapped a team-best 23-game reached base streak and a 10-game hitting streak. He has failed to get a hit in just four games this year.

Gantt has shown that he can hit for power and contact as he leads the team in batting average (.389), slugging percentage (.655), on-base percentage (.478), RBI (26), runs (34), stolen bases (13) and is second in home runs (5).

Renfro Deals and Delivers

CofC senior lefty Josh Renfro has proven to be the master of the strikeout. Renfro ranks third in the conference in K’s with 48 after two straight weeks with career-high 11-strikeout outings. Each time the Cougars get 12 strikeouts in a home game, the fans are treated to Kickin Chicken bucks. Renfro has helped Cougar fans win the promotion twice this season, and came one strikeout short on a third occasion.

New ERA

College of Charleston’s Saturday starter Christian Powell has proved to nearly unhittable this season. Powell enters the week with a league-best 1.11 ERA that also ranks ninth in the country. Powell has boasted three starting performances where he has not allowed an earned run and has one partial shutout this season.

B-Murr, Benz or Bentley

College of Charleston sophomore Brandon Murray has been a power generator at the plate, blasting a team-best eight home runs and boasting a slugging percentage of .619, which puts him sixth in the conference. Murray was named the SoCon Player of the Week on March 26. He hit a game-tying solo home run in the bottom of the ninth inning that led to the Cougars extra-inning win over CSU (3/27).

After splitting time in left field to begin the season, Murray has cemented a place in the heart of the lineup with his power and patience (team-best 17 walks) at the plate.

Chicks Dig The Long Ball

While the College of Charleston has based its 2012 reputation off of the strength of its pitching staff, the Cougars are still hitting for power in a big way. CofC leads the Southern Conference in team home runs with 31, a mark that currently ranks eighth in the country.

College of Charleston has seen power from a number of different bats as Brandon Murray (8), Marty Gantt (5) and Bradley Goodson (5) all have five or more long balls.

South Carolina Game Sold Out

College of Charleston’s April 4 game against South Carolina sold out not long after the tickets went on sale at the beginning of the season. The sellout is the first for the Cougars this season. Last year’s game against South Carolina boasted a sellout attendance of 1,719. The Patriots Point attendance record was 3,122 for a 2006 game against top-ranked Clemson.

Women’s Soccer Silent Auction

The College of Charleston women’s soccer team will be holding a Silent Auction on Wednesday during the College of Charleston-South Carolina baseball game.  Over 50 items to bid on and prizes vary from a 2-night package at Banner Elk Winery & Villa, a white water rafting trip for 4 (includes lodging), free CofC camp registrations, and restaurant gift cards.

Proceeds from the auction will help fund a team trip to Trinidad and Tobago. The Cougars will play top quality games against the Trinidad and Tobago Women’s National Team, Guyana Women’s National Team and the T&T U20 Youth National team.  Also, the College of Charleston athletes will have an opportunity to give back to the country. They will help build homes with the Habitat for Humanity program and run a free soccer clinic for youth players.