The Sarge

TOP 9 - This game is almost over and I feel like I just sat down. Matt Price comes trotting out of the bullpen looking for the final three outs for his fifth save of the season. He begins the inning by getting a ground ball to Pankake at short. He throws across the diamond for the first out of the inning. LB Dantzler continues his brilliant season at the hot corner fielding a slow roller and throws to first. Price gets the final out on a swinging strikeout to end the game. FINAL: Carolina 1 - Alabama 0. W: Webb (4-0) S: Price (5). Adam Matthews broke up the Alabama no-hitter on the first pitch of the day with a home run.

BOTTOM 8 - I think that no-hitter ended in pretty incredible fashion. Left-handed pitcher Jon Keller comes in for Alabama. His very first pitch of the game is sent to right field by Adam Matthews. Ball just carries and carries and carries - lands on the concourse. Keller has to feel pretty bad right now. Wow. He was 0-for-14 prior to that plate appearance. English grounds out ot third and Vergason grounds out to second. Pankake up now. He goes down on strikes to end the inning. Carolina leads 1-0 and Matt Price is entering.

TOP 8 - Tyler Webb to the bump to take the place of Michael Roth. The count is 2-1 on centerfielder and leadoff hitter Taylor Dugas, who eventually flies out to right field for the first out of the inning. Gregory grounds out to first and Reaves pops out to Pankake behind the second base bag for the final out of the inning. Gamecocks coming up looking for their first hit of the game as we start the bottom of the eighth. USC has the bottom of the order due up - Matthews, English, Vergason. No score.

Friday - 4:30 p.m. - We're back out here at Carolina Stadium. The teams have gone through on-field BP and the grounds crew is in in the process of getting the field ready for the game today. No indication on who the starting pitcher is going to be today just yet. No one is down in the bullpen. Tyler Webb is in the outfield throwing with Patrick Sullivan. Could be one of those two. We'll see. Stay tuned.

Tonight's game against Alabama has been postponed. It will be resumed 5 p.m. on Friday. Game two will still begin at 7 p.m. or 40 mins after game one

BOTTOM 7 - Walker grounds out to third to begin the inning. South Carolina gets its third base runner of the night as Dantzler walks on a 3-1 pitch. That's two walks and an HBP for Turnbull. Make that two runners this inning for the first time in the game. Bright up, but he grounds into an inning-ending 5-4-3 double play. We just had some pretty gnarly lightning. No score.

TOP 7 - Roth gives up a one-out single, but that's all that happens. Neither team can get anything gonig offensively. Alabama has four hits, the Gamecocks haven't registered one yet. No score at the stretch.

BOTTOM 6 - Vergason up looking for the first Carolina hit of the night. Gamecocks have two base runners with a Greiner HBP and Pankake walk. Vergason goes down looking at a low, outside fastball. Blue's zone appears to be a bit generous tonight and Turnbull taking advantage of it. Pankake grounds to short. Two down. Marzilli bounces out to first. No score.

TOP 6 - Reaves pops up to third, Moore lines out to left. That was a p-rod off the bat of Moore. Right at English though, so no harm done. Smith flies out to end the inning. Another quick one for Roth. No score. Starting to drizzle here. No score.

BOTTOM 5 - Turnbull still in a groove. Carolina can't seem to get anyting off of him. Bright strikes out and Matthews grounds out to short. Dadgum Tanner English shows off his bat speed and turns on a 91 mph fastball hitting an absolute missile to third. Ball was fielded cleanly by Tullidge, who was playing on the grass. Helluva play there. Throws across the diamond and gets him. No score.

TOP 5 - Leadoff single through the left side for Booth, the catcher and seven-hole hitter. He's bunted up to second base by Roberts for nine-hole hitter Tullidge. He grounds out to second base. Moves the runner up 90 feet away for Taylor Dugas, who has looked bad on his first two at-bats. Feel like Dugas, Bama's best hitter, is due for a quality AB here. Welp, he's walked, which isn't a bad thing. Roth goes ahead of Gregory 1-2 in the count. Dugas takes second on a ball low and outside. He hits a routine ground to Pankake, who makes the play. Two stranded in scoring position. No score.

BOTTOM 4 - Walker gives South Carolina its second base runner of the game when he walks on five pitches to start the inning. Dantzler now up for the Gamecocks. A little hit and run action. Dantzler puts the ball in play, but the sharp grounder goes right to Roberts at second base. Shortstop was the one covering on the play. No vacant hole. Easy double play. Greiner pops the first pitch up to shallow right center. Dugas makes a nice running catch. No score.

TOP 4 - Very quick inning for Roth. Gets a ground out to short. Fly out to deep center, and ground ball back to him. That's 59 pitches for Roth through four innings. No score.

BOTTOM 3 - Tanner English up, then down. Strikeout victim. Vergason pops out to third in foul ground. This dude does have a good record or ERA, but South Carolina can't seem to time that fastball just yet. Pankake works a walk. Really all that Turnbull is throwing is a fastball. Very few off-speed pitches so far. May see more the second time through the order, but that's all he threw to Pankake. Marzilli watches a curve ball and change go by, but strikes out swinging on a 90 mph fastball to end the inning. No score.

TOP 3 - Roth trots back out to the mound to face the top of the order. He gets Dugas swinging at a pitch in the dirt for his second strikeout in his last two hitters. Gregory hits another bouncer back up the middle. This one is hit harder. Vergason fields the ball just on the grass going twards the second base bag. He plants and throws across the diamond for the second out of the inning. Nice stretch by Walk. Reaves gets some solid contact on a Roth breaking ball, but it's just a line out to center to end the inning. No score.

BOTTOM 2 - Dantzler digs in. I'm not going to give any fish references. I think it's a tad on the silly side. He taps back to the mound and Turnbull flips to first for the out. Greiner is grazed by a 3-1 pitch to give the Gamecocks their first base runner of the night. Bright is making another start at DH and takes a hack at the first pitch. He pops up to right for the second out of the inning. Matthews hits a flare, but it's not quite hard enough to get over Roberts at second base. No score.

TOP 2 - Pankake registers the first two outs. Rosecrans pops out to short for out number one. Booth grounds towards Pankake. He charges and picks it up on a short hop. Throw is a little low, but certainly easy enough for Walker ot field. Two down. Roberts is ahead in the count 2-1 but fouls a fastball straight back. Roth still looking for his first strikeout of the game. He ends up walking Roberts and Roth's pitch count is already starting to climb. Roberts swipes second to put him in scoring position with two down. Nine-hole hitter Tullige fans at a 74mph changeup though to end the inning. No score.

BOTTOM 1 - Pankake digs in and is, like usual, ready to take his hacks. Bounces one to short. Easy play for Reaves, who doesn't have a real strong throw but doesn't need one. One down. Turnbull bringing his fastball in the low 90s tonight. Marzilli, with two strikes, is just trying to stay alive and shoots some outside fastballs foul. Turnball surprises him and comes inside with a fastball that may have been just off the corner but it certainly hit his spot. Two down. Walker pops the first pitch up in foul territory to end the inning. No score.

TOP 1 - Michael Roth takes the bump with the song "Call Me Maybe" bellowing over the loudspeakers. One of my keys to the weekend is stop Taylor Dugas, who goes down on his first at-bat. Tries to drag bunt, but it's too close to Roth. He fields and flips to first. One down. Hunter Gregory up and hits a little dribbler back up the middle. Vergason misjudges the hop and it goes off his glove and between his legs. Rarely do I disagree with the official scorer, but I do on this one as he rules it a hit. Reaves pops a 2-2 pitch up to right field for the second out of the inning. Moore serves a soft single to right field to put runners on the corners with two down. Smith with a quality at-bat fouling off a few pitches but then goes down swinging on a fastball up and out of the zone. Roth strands two in his first inning of work. No score.

Absolutely perfect night for baseball here at Carolina Stadium. Got a little bit of a breeze blowing out to straightaway center as the sun goes down. Gamecocks are in the all whites with garnet hats. Bama has their crimson jerseys and crimson hats, for those who like the uniform updates, brought to you by Cintas - the uniform people - or something like that over the loudspeaker at Carolina Stadium.

South Carolina

SS - Joey Pankake
CF - Evan Marzilli
1B - Christian Walker
3B - LB Dantzler
C - Grayson Greiner
DH - Connor Bright
RF - Adam Matthews
LF - Tanner English
2B - Chase Vergason

LHP Michael Roth

Alabama

CF - Taylor Dugas
LF - Hunter Gregory
SS - Jared Reaves
RF - Ben Moore
1B - Austen Smith
DH - Josh Rosecrans
C - Brett Booth
2B - Kenny Roberts
3B - James Tullidge

RHP Spencer Turnbull - 5.45 ERA, 2-3, 34.2 IP, 37 H, 21 ER, 16 BB, 34 K, OBA .272

Just a reminder - tonight's game begins at 7:30 p.m., instead of the typical scheduled start time of 7 p.m. The game is being broadcast on ESPNU. Be sure you tune in tonight if you can't make it out to the stadium. No word yet on whether Colby Holmes is on the active roster or not. Don't know if we'll find out before or after the game, but I'll pass it on as soon as I do.

Also, just of note, got a text from 2012 commit Max Schrock and he was 3-for-3 with three home runs and a walk in his game today. I've always said the kid has some pop in his bat. He's one that makes me look smart from time to time.

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