Wake Forest University
South Carolina
South Carolina Defeats Wake, 6-1, In NCAA 2nd Round
5/27/2000 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 27, 2000
(#1) South Carolina - 6, (#2) Wake Forest - 1
Records: South Carolina 54-8, Wake Forest 40-19-1
COLUMBIA, S.C. - Tripp Kelly belted a three-run homer and Drew Meyer and Brennan Dees added solo shots as South Carolina defeated Wake Forest, 6-1, in second round NCAA Baseball Regional action before 5,119 at Sarge Frye Field.
The Gamecocks, ranked number one by Baseball Weekly/USA Today and the NCAA tournament's top seed, improved its record to 54-8. Wake Forest fell to 40-19-1.
South Carolina advances to Sunday's championship game at 1:00 p.m. Wake Forest takes on fourth-seeded Liberty at 7:00 p.m. tonight in an elimination game. The winner will have to beat South Carolina twice on Sunday to advance to next weekend's NCAA Super Regional.
Peter Bauer (13-1) earned the win allowing a run on seven hits en route to his second complete game of the spring. He walked none and struck out seven, including the final three hitters of the game. Eric Schmitt (6-1) suffered his first loss of the season allowing five runs, two earned, on six hits over six innings. He walked none and struck out four.
Meyer, the Gamecocks' freshman All-America shortstop, belted a solo homer to left center, his 10th of the season, in the bottom of the first inning to give South Carolina an early 1-0 lead.
Wake Forest tied the game in the sixth inning when with one out, Jason Aquilante singled to center, moved to second on a ground out by Chase Voshell and scored when Danny Borrell doubled to right center.
South Carolina scored four times with two outs in the bottom of the frame to take the lead for good. Brennan Dees, who missed South Carolina's opening round win over Liberty with a sprained ankle, hit his 10th home run of the season giving the Gamecocks a 2-1 lead.
Brandon Pack and Trey Dyson reached on errors to prolong the inning, and Kelly celebrated his 21st birthday by blasting a three-run home run to left, his 20th of the season, for a 5-1 South Carolina advantage. Kelly becomes just the third player in South Carolina history to tally 20 homers in a season. Joe Datin had 23 homers in 1988 while Derick Urquhart had 20 in 1998.
The Gamecocks added an insurance run in the seventh inning. John McHenry reached on a one out infield hit, stole second, and raced to third when Wake Forest catcher Dan Conway's throw to second base skipped into center field. McHenry scored on Nate Janowicz's sacrifice fly to center for a 6-1 lead.
WAKE FOREST 000 001 000 1 - 7 - 3SOUTH CAROLINA 100 004 10x 6 - 8 - 1
Schmitt, Braun (7) and Conway. Bauer and Pack. W: Bauer (13-1). L: Schmitt (6-1). HR: SC, Meyer (10), Dees (10), Kelly (20). 2B: WF, Borrell 2, SC, Pack.
