GAMECOCKS PULL OUT 7-5 NCAA BASEBALL WIN OVER DUKES

Sunday, June 1

Raleigh, N.C.

1:00 PM

James Madison University

39-19

South Carolina

40-22

James Madison

South Carolina

6/1/2008 4:00:00 AM | Baseball

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RALEIGH, N.C., June 1, 2008 ? Junior shortstop Reese Havens smacked a two-run walkoff home run to lift South Carolina over James Madison 7-5 in an elimination game in the Raleigh Regional of the 2008 NCAA Baseball Championship at Doak Field at Dail Park.

"It was a good college baseball game," noted JMU head coach Spanky McFarland. "Alex [Valadja] had a nice start. This team never gives up. We'll battle, we're not afraid of anybody. We just came up a little short today."

USC improved to 40-22 and advances to Sunday night's championship game against N.C. State at 6 p.m. JMU ended its season at 39-19, the seventh-highest win total in program history.

South Carolina led 5-3 going into the bottom of the ninth. Sophomore Matt Browning (Mystic, Conn./Fitch) hit a one-out single and freshman McKinnon Langston (Tallahassee, Fla./North Florida Christian) added a two-out single. The Dukes were down to their last strike when redshirt sophomore Chris Johnson (Shrewsbury, N.J./Red Bank Regional) laced a double to the gap on a one ball, two strike count to score both runs as Langston narrowly beat the throw to the plate.

In the bottom of the ninth, freshman Scott Wingo singled to lead off the inning. Havens then socked a full-count offering well over the wall in right field for the game winner.

The loss came despite the best performance of the season by JMU freshman starter Alex Valadja (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Catholic). After missing much of the season due to illness, Valadja has seen sporadic work over the final few weeks. However, he stepped up on Sunday to work a career-high 5 1/3 innings while allowing four runs, three earned, on five hits with four strikeouts. Valadja retired nine in a row at one point.

Commented Valadja, "It's taken time to get my body back to where it needed to be. I felt great today. I threw the ball where I wanted. I stayed focused and let it fly. There were a couple of pitches that I'd like to have back. My only thought was to stay calm and give us a chance to win. I wanted to keep it close