The Gamecocks’ quest for three straight baseball national championships became more difficult with Wednesday’s season-ending injury to a key starter.
South Carolina freshman catcher Grayson Greiner sustained a lateral meniscus tear to his left knee during practice on Wednesday afternoon at Carolina Stadium.
Greiner will undergo arthroscopic surgery on Thursday with Dr. Chris Mazoué with USC Sports Medicine. He will miss the 2012 Columbia Regional and the remainder of the postseason.
For the season, Greiner has played in 55 games with 48 starts including 42 behind the plate. He is his hitting .236 (41-for-174) with six homers and 31 RBI. Greiner owns a .258 (24-for-93) batting average in the league with 12 of his 234 hits, extra base hits (eight doubles, one triple, three homers). He has also driven in 18 runs and has a .462 slugging percentage in SEC contests.
Defensively he has been sound as well as he has thrown out 17 of 39 runners attempting to steal on him. He was yesterday named to the SEC All-Freshman Team and recently accepted a spot on this summer’s USA Baseball Collegiate National Team.
Greiner earned SEC Freshman of the Week after the Mississippi State series. It marked the second straight week a Gamecock had earned Freshman of the Week accolades. Greiner had a key solo home run that jump-started a four-run rally in the bottom of the eighth as the Gamecocks came from behind to defeat MSU 7-6. Greiner collected three hits over the weekend with a pair of doubles and the home run. He also scored two runs. He also had a grand slam in the 8-0 win over The Citadel.
- Photo courtesy of USC Athletics
