Tide Wins SEC Tourney Opener Over South Carolina, 9-7
8/28/2003 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
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ALABAMA-USC POST-GAME NOTES
*The No. 7 seed Alabama Crimson Tide (34-22) defeated the No. 2 seed South Carolina Gamecocks (38-19) 9-7 in first round action at the 2003 SEC Tournament at the Hoover Met.
*Alabama advances to play the No. 3 seed Auburn Tigers in a winner's bracket game at 5:07 p.m. (CT) on Friday, May 23. Alabama and Auburn will be meeting for the first time in SEC Tournament play since the 1998 SEC Tournament here at the Hoover Met as the Tigers took two of three games en route to the tournament championship.
*The Alabama-Auburn game will be televised by FOX Sports Net South.
*With the win over South Carolina, Alabama now improves to 7-1 in SEC Tournament first round games under Coach Jim Wells. The Crimson Tide's only loss in a first-round game was an 11-8 setback to Auburn in 1998.
*The win over South Carolina marks the 17th come-from-behind win for Alabama, accounting for one-half of its 34 wins this year.
*Alabama also improves to 2-0 all-time against South Carolina in SEC Tournament play, including a 6-2 win in last year's SEC Championship game. Overall, Alabama is 3-1 against Carolina in the post-season, including a win at the 1986 Atlantic Regional at Mark Light Stadium in Coral Gables, Fla.
*The win also marks the first of the season for Alabama against South Carolina. The Gamecocks swept the Crimson Tide in a three-game series in Tuscaloosa two weeks ago (May 9-11).
*Junior right-hander Jared Woodward earned his third win of the 2003 season, pitching 5 2/3 innings in his first SEC start of the 2003 season. The Northport, Ala., native allowed five runs (3 ER) and nine hits before leaving the game with two outs in sixth inning. He added one walk and one strikeout.
*Woodward improved to 3-0 (1.000) on the season and 12-4 (.750) in his UA career with the victory. The win was also his first career post-season win for the Crimson Tide.
*Dating back to last season, Alabama has won the last 10 games in which Woodward has started on the mound. The last time he starter and UA did not win was March 31, 2002 at South Carolina. The Crimson Tide lost the game, but Woodward did not factor in the decision.
*Woodward is the first UA pitcher other than Brent Carter to win for Alabama since Seth Johnson beat Arkansas 14-2 on April 26th.
*Senior closer Brian Reed nothced his 12th save of the year and 21st of his career. Reed recorded the save against USC, his first since April 25th. The Alabama single-season record is 14 saves by Ben Short in 1991.
*The top three hitters in the Alabama lineup -- Travis Garner, Adam Pavkovich and Beau Hearod -- combined for seven of the 10 hits against South Carolina.
*Garner had two hits, scored three runs and added one RBI for Alabama, giving him at least one hit in 49 of 54 games this season.
*Pavkovich had three hits and scored a run when he stole home on a perfectly executed double steal in the seventh inning.
*Hearod added two hits and drove in three runs for Alabama, including a key insurance run in the ninth inning.
*Sophomore lefty Brent Carter (8-5, 3.23 ERA) will start for the Crimson Tide against Auburn on Friday.
ALABAMA-USC POST-GAME QUOTES
Ray Tanner Head Coach South Carolina
"I knew going into today's game it was going to be difficult to beat Alabama for a fourth time this year. Look up the fifth inning and we were in pretty good shape to do so. To their credit they were able to muster some hits after the lead-off walk and they hit the ball pretty good. They got some pretty good rips off Aaron (Rawl). They battled back and we battled back and it was any ones game but were were not good enough to win it at the end."
Aaron Rawl, Pitcher
"They swung the bat well you got to give them credit they hit good pitches they hit our mistakes and they out scored us this game. They played better then us at the plate and in the field. I thought we battled well but they ended up on top."
Alabama Head Coach Jim Wells
"We are very pleased to win, it was a hard fought game we battled through a lot of adversity a lot of the things we brought on ourselves. (Jared) Woodward gave us what we needed. The inning were we had the big inning against us that has happened a lot this year, we hung in there. We got the big inning of our, a lot of guys put it together. (Brian) Reed came in and got another save, it was nice to win a game."
Jared Woodward, Pitcher
"I thought we played well tonight, I'm proud of our offense. We came out and swung the bat very well today. I tried to give us a chance to win and thats what we did. We played good defense for the must part, but we really swung the bat well tonight.
Travis Garner, Center fielder
"He is a good pitcher, we stayed in and kept battling against him. Hitting is contagious one hit lead to another in that inning and after we put the five spot up everyone started swinging the bat better."
