2002 SEC SEC Baseball Tournament
Hoover Metropolitan Stadium
Birmingham, Ala., May 22-26.

#2 Alabama 6, #1 South Carolina 2

Birmingham, AL (AP) -- Jeffrey Norris had to throw an extra 100 pitches or so, but once again he was on the mound at the end of a big Alabama victory in the Southeastern Conference tournament.

Norris tossed a complete-game 10-hitter to lead the Crimson Tide to a 6-2 victory over South Carolina in a title game with little drama Sunday.

Alabama (48-13) scored five runs in the first two innings to remain unbeaten in six tournament finals, winning its fifth title since 1995.

The regular-season champion Gamecocks (48-14) earned their first championship game appearance with a dramatic 5-4 victory over LSU late Saturday night.

Norris (5-1) also closed Saturday night's game with Florida, getting Matt Goss to dribble back to the mound and starting a double play on his only pitch.

Some 19 hours later, he allowed only one extra base hit and didn't walk anybody while striking out five for his third complete game in just 10 starts.

The Tide helped him by turning two double plays.

Tournament MVP Brent Boyd was 2-for-4 with an RBI and batted .500 for the tournament.

Alabama pecked away at South Carolina starter Chris Hernandez (1-1), getting six singles and five runs off him in 1-1/3 innings.

The Gamecocks got a run in the fifth. After Norris struck out the first two batters looking, Meyer doubled to right. He scored on Steve Thomas' single to right, when catcher Jeremy Brown couldn't hold onto the ball on the tag.

Alabama wasn't so fortunate in the fifth when Gamecocks left fielder Garris Gonce gunned down Scott McClanahan at the plate for the third out.

The score could have been considerably worse. Scott McClanahan grounded into a double play with the bases loaded in the first and got another chance in the eighth. Cliff Donald, South Carolina's fifth pitcher, struck him out looking to end that threat.

South Carolina tacked on a run in the ninth on a solo homer by pinch-hitter Demetric Smith.

Steve Thomas was 3-for-4 with an RBI for the Gamecocks. Brian Buscher's hitting streak ended at 21 games with an 0-for-4 day.

The Gamecocks were in the championship game for the first time after entering with a 9-17 record in the tournament.

The last time the two top seeds had met for the tournament title was in 1997, when Alabama beat LSU 12-2.

Score by Innings                    R  H  E
-------------------------------------------
South Carolina...... 000 010 001 -  2 10  0
Alabama............. 320 000 10X -  6 10  0
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2002 ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
Jeff Norris, Alabama
Gary Bell, South Carolina
Cody Clark, Arkansas
Brent Boyd, Alabama
Pete Stonard, Alabama
Pat Osborn, Florida
Drew Meyer, South Carolina
Ben Harrison, Florida
Matt Heath, LSU
Steve Thomas, South Carolina
Ryan Shealy, Florida

MOST VALUABLE PLAYER
Brent Boyd, Alabama