Tennessee 4, South Carolina 1

Posted 7:20PM on Friday 27th May 2005 ( 19 years ago )

HOOVER, Ala. (AP) Freshman lefthander James Adkins struck out 12 batters in eight innings and Tennessee beat South Carolina 4-1 Friday to stay alive in the Southeastern Conference tournament. The Volunteers (41-18) now must beat Mississippi State twice Saturday to advance to the championship game. Adkins (8-4) allowed just three hits and two walks, matching his career-high for strikeouts despite coping with his great-grandmother's death earlier in the week. ``I just came out and wanted to do good for her, and show what she meant to me,'' he said. He traveled to Birmingham only after coach Rod Delmonico told him he needed Adkins to start Friday's game. ``To keep his composure and be able to focus and pitch the way he did was phenomenal,'' Delmonico said. ``My heart goes out to him because he's been through a lot the last five or six days.'' The defending champion Gamecocks (38-21) struck out 26 times and managed just three runs in their final two tournament games. Eric King went 4-for-4 with a double for Tennessee, which started out going 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position over the first six innings and left the bases loaded in the fourth. The Volunteers made the most of their second bases loaded opportunity, producing all four runs in the seventh. Chase Headley hit a two-run single up the middle off reliever Brent Marsh. Then Marsh hit Kelly Edmundson to reload the bases, and Michael Rivera made it 4-1 with a sacrifice fly. ``The last two days we've pitched, played defense and had timely hitting, and you need that in postseason play,'' Delmonico said. The seventh-inning damage began on Tommy King's throwing error trying to finish a double play. ``If we make that double play, we're seven outs away with nobody on,'' Tanner said. The Gamecocks' lone run came on Neil Giesler's sacrifice fly in the second. South Carolina starter Arik Hempy (3-0) pitched five shutout innings in just his fifth start of the season, but left with a 1-0 lead after throwing 92 pitches. ``We got in a situation where we were trying to make one run stand up and that's tough to do,'' Tanner said. (Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

http://accesswdun.com/article/2005/5/133823