Cooper, No. 10 Cocks cool off No. 13 Pirates' bats

On what was a very windy and cold day at Clark-LeClair Stadium, USC's Blake Cooper turned in an excellent outing as he worked a sensational seven innings and highlighted a 6-2 win over No. 13 East Carolina.

The tenth-ranked Gamecocks (4-0) took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second. Nick Ebert led off the inning with a double down the left field line and then scored on a two-base error when Jeffery Jones lined a Maness' offering to right field that was misplayed by ECU right fielder Devin Harris.

USC upped its advantage to 2-0 in the third and thats where the score remained until the Gamecocks plated another single run in the fifth when centerfielder Whit Merrifield singled and came around to score via a couple wild pitches.

ECU scored its only runs in the bottom of that inning when Corey Thompson lined a two-run shot to right field. It was the sophomore's second career HR--the other came against USC in last year's regional.

Ray Tanner's club responded with two runs in the top of the sixth to extend its margin back to three at 5-2.

The Pirates loaded the bases with two outs in the bottom of the eighth when Austin Homan walked, but freshman John Wooten's deep drive to right center was caught up against the wall by the Gamecocks' centerfielder Whit Merrifield--only feet shy of a go-ahead grand slam.

South Carolina scored a final insurance run in the top of the ninth off ECU reliever Sthil Sowers.

ECU junior Seth Maness fell to 0-2 on the season. Maness, who threw 88 pitches, was approaching his pitch count when he left the game with one out in the top of the fifth, but was also hobbled by a foot or ankle injury suffered when covering first an inning or two earlier. He allowed two runs--one earned--on six hits in his 4.1 innings of work.

Shawn Armstrong (1.2 IP, 2 R, O ER, 1 H, 1 K, 1 BB) and Patrick Somers (.1 IP) also saw action out of the ECU bullpen. The relief effort by Sowers (2.2 IP, O ER, 1 ER, 3 H, 4 K, 1 BB) was encouraging given how the junior struggled in 2009 and early this season.

ECU will meet USC in game two of the series on Saturday at 2pm.