June 11, 2007

Gamecocks can't hold off Heels

By Travis Haney

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — South Carolina's baseball team won 87 combined games the past two seasons. Impressive as that might be, the Gamecocks have another eight months to think about the one game they didn't win.

Up 4-1 through five innings, South Carolina again couldn't hold off North Carolina in the Tar Heels' 9- 4 NCAA super regional series- clinching victory at rowdy Boshamer Stadium.

" They were certainly the better team tonight," USC coach Ray Tanner said. "We did some good things this year, I'm proud of our effort, but we got beat by a better team in the super regional."

North Carolina Mississippi State Louisville Rice California Irvine Arizona State UCLA/CS Fullerton Michigan/Oregon St.

UNC, which scored eight runs in the final four innings, returns to Omaha, Neb., for the second consecutive year. The Tar Heels lost to Oregon State in the national championship series in 2006.

" It's a shame both of us couldn't go (to Omaha). It's a shame," UNC coach Mike Fox said. "But we're ecstatic we're going back."

And, for the second consecutive year, USC came up a single victory shy of its first trip to the College World Series since 2004.

A year ago, conference rival Georgia beat South Carolina in the third game of that super regional series in Athens, Ga. "Last year, you got left with a bitter feeling leaving Georgia," said Gamecocks starter Mike Cisco, who gave up three earned runs in 5 ? innings. " Tonight, same thing all over again. It makes it that much worse when you're that close."

Despite eight trips to the College World Series in the program's history — including three in a row from 2002-04 — the Gamecocks still have not reached the final eight when playing on the road to get there.

And USC had to win a rain- delayed game during the early afternoon just to force the third game. Gamecocks closer Jeff Jeffords gave up a run in two innings to secure an 8- 6 victory.

In the nightcap, second baseman Travis Jones' two-run double in the fourth put the Gamecocks up three, giving them a legitimate hope of bucking that trend and advancing in the tournament.

But then, like Friday when UNC rallied for nine unanswered runs, the Tar Heels mounted their charge against shaky South Carolina pitching.

The game-shifting play came in the sixth when North Carolina No. 9 hitter Garrett Gore smoked a liner back up the middle. Cisco, the sophomore from Mount Pleasant, reached out to field the ball and it careened off his glove and rolled slowly into short right field.

Had Cisco not touched the ball, Jones would have likely recorded one out, and maybe two.

Instead, Chad Flack and Kyle Seager scored to cut USC's lead to 4-3.

It wasn't just them. The offense, when presented opportunities, couldn't push across any runs against the decorated UNC bullpen.

South Carolina left five runners in scoring position — including two at third — after Jones' double. Immediately after that big hit, right-hander Rob Wooten stranded runners at second and third to keep the Gamecocks from further padding the lead. Wooten threw 1 2/3 scoreless innings.

Closer Andrew Carignan followed him by allowing just one hit and no runs in four innings.

He nearly ran into big trouble, though. In a 6- 4 game, the Gamecocks had the bases loaded with two outs in the seventh. Third baseman James Darnell, who had 19 homers this year, vacuumed the oxygen from Boshamer with a towering, well-hit fly ball to right field.

But Tar Heels freshman Tim Fedroff secured the catch at the wall to end the inning and, effectively, the Gamecocks' season.

"I thought we could go farther," Darnell said. "But, unfortunately, they had a couple more things go their way. That's just baseball."