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March 10, 2000
AUBURN- No. 9 South Carolina used four home runs to score eight of its 12 runs as it dropped No. 6 Auburn, 12-6, in both squads' SEC opener at Plainsman Park, tonight. South Carolina improved to 17-0 overall and 1-0 in the SEC, while the Tigers fell to 19-4 on the season and 0-1 in conference play.
Trailing 7-3, Auburn scored two runs in the seventh and one in the eighth to cut the lead to one, however, South Carolina scored five runs in the top of the ninth to outlast the Tigers.
Following a 21-minute rain delay in the first inning, Auburn got on the board in the bottom half of the inning as Gabe Gross hit a towering three-run home run over the right field lights. Gross' seventh homer of the season scored teammates Dominic Rich and Todd Faulkner.
South Carolina answered scoring one in the second and four in the fourth to take a 5-3 advantage. Shane Nelson led off the fourth with a solo home run and four batters later, the Gamecocks' Drew Meyer hit a three-run homer to right-center field.
The Gamecocks also received home runs from Brandon Pack and John McHenry. The 17-0 start by USC tied a school record for best start in school history.
Kip Bouknight (6-0) picked up the win and Scott Barber was credited with his second save of the season for the Gamecocks. Auburn freshman Brent Speigner (4-2) was credited with the loss.
Gross and Faulkner each finished the evening 2-for-4 for the Tigers.
The two teams will play the second game of their three-game series tomorrow at Hitchcock Field at Plainsman Park at 2 p.m. CT. Sunday's game will begin at 1:30 p.m. CT.
Auburn and South Carolina go at it again tomorrow afternoon at 2:00 pm. You can listen to the game live in our Live Audio section. Webcast time is 1:45 pm.
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