#8 SOUTH CAROLINA GETS PAST RAMS IN BASEBALL OPENER Box Score 02-09-01 CHARLESTON, S.C. - Freshman Landon Powell's two-run single highlighted a five-run seventh inning which propeled South Carolina (4-0) to a 7-2 victory over Virginia Commonwealth in the opening game of the Berkeley Electric Cooperative Baseball Shootout Friday afternoon in Charleston, S.C. The Rams hung right with the eighth-ranked Gamecocks, with the contest locked at 2-2 heading into the bottom of the seventh. The game's early stages featured a tremendous pitching duel between VCU senior Marc Fisher (Conshohoken, Pa./Plymouth-Whitemarsh) and South Carolina All-American Kip Bouknight, with both hurlers working on a shutout through the first five frames. The Gamecocks took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the sixth on a two-run homer by Powell, but the Rams answered with a pair of runs off Bouknight in their half of the seventh. Junior shortstop Joshua Arteaga (Homestead, Fla./Motlow St. CC) and senior catcher Cory Bauswell (Chesapeake, Va./Western Branch) each singled to start the inning, followed by a RBI base hit from senior left fielder Kevin Elrod (Mechanicsville, Va./Lee-Davis) to cut the South Carolina lead to 2-1. Junior Davy Martin (Mechanicsville, Va./Lee-Davis) then singled home Bauswell to tie the game, but Gamecocks' left fielder Garris Gonce threw out Elrod at the plate to kill the Rams' rally. South Carolina loaded the bases with none out in the bottomof the seventh on a pair of hit batsmen by Rams' freshman Justin Tatro (Chester, Va./Thomas Dale) and an infield hit by Trey Dyson off Martin. Martin then struck out senior Chris Plummer, but Powell followed with a two-run single to give the Gamecocks the lead back. South Carolina then put the game out of reach one out later when center fielder Marcus McBeth blasted a three-run homer for a 7-2 Gamecocks' advantage. Bouknight, the 2000 Golden Spikes Award winner as the top player in amateur baseball, allowed five hits and struck out seven over seven innings to improve to 2-0. Fisher scattered just five hits and fanned seven South Carolina hitters in six innings of work for the Rams. VCU will be back in action tomorrow morning when it takes on 26th-ranked Tennessee at 10 a.m. Junior Bo Acors (Mechanicsville, Va./Atlee) will get the starting nod for the Rams.