First, Rhode Island beat South Carolina 5-4... South Carolina jumped out to a 4-0 lead pretty quick, but the Rams rallied back and knocked out Clarke Schmidt after 4 innings.... I don't know what to say about South Carolina, frankly. I wasn't overly impressed with them when they came to Athens. It's honestly hard for me to believe that they got to 20 wins... But they really haven't played that well over the last month or so it seems. They really leaned hard on Schmidt this year... He's at 104 innings now and you have to wonder if fatigue may have played into today.
Still, South Carolina went 30-4 at home this regular season... In spite of their bounce back season, I can't imagine that their fans are sold on Chad Holbrook... I imagine it's a pretty tense night over in Columbia right now. South Carolina should beat Duke tomorrow, but I imagine that Duke will play a little better than they did earlier today.
Ole Miss dropped a 10 inning deal to Utah. That one shocked me. Utah is still sub .500 even after the win today, although they played very well in the Pac 12 (who had a pretty bad as a league today)... Their guy Jayson Rose is supposed to be pretty good. Still, Ole Miss was up 5-2 in the 6th and the Rebels just don't give up leads with their bullpen. Even worse for Ole Miss was that it looked like Wyatt Short threw 2 1/3 tonight, so you've got to imagine that they'll have to do it without him tomorrow. I really thought that Ole Miss was the best team that came to Athens this year... They're just so balanced... Just like South Carolina, it can all end tomorrow if they don't rally.
Southern Miss hammered South Alabama 14-2. The score surprised me there. Kevin Hill apparently didn't have a lot today. That has to be incredibly deflating for the Jaguars... I wish we could have played South Alabama all three games during that "Bulldog Invitational" weekend. I thought they were a solid team and that we would have benefited more from playing them all three than playing Cincinnati and Western Kentucky. In all probability, that was Kevin Hill's final college start. Heck of a career that guy had. Probably pitched the second best game against us this year after Logan Shore's start down in Gainesville.
Wright State was walked off by Ohio State and lost, I think 7-6. It was a 1 run loss and Ohio State scored 2 in the last inning to win it. That's a crusher anyway, but especially given that Ohio State is an in-state team. I definitely thought that Wright State was the best team we saw in the non-conference slate... For their sake I hope they can bounce back tomorrow. I've been saying all year that they'd give someone a headache in a regional. That group needs to hang around for a little bit.
tech lost to UConn in Gainesville Florida. That doesn't surprise me a great deal. The postseason struggles for tech continue, "mysteriously" so. If any UConn fans made it down there (how disappointing must it be to get to leave Connecticut for a weekend, only to end up in Gainesvile Florida?!) I hope they chanted "just like basketball." I was in undergrad at UGA when UConn beat tech in the national title game in hoops... Some people asked me why I was pulling so hard for the Huskies, which I thought was just an absurd question. Someone said "I mean, state pride doesn't compel you to pull for tech?" I said "No, it's because I love the state of Georgia that I can't pull for tech."
Still, South Carolina went 30-4 at home this regular season... In spite of their bounce back season, I can't imagine that their fans are sold on Chad Holbrook... I imagine it's a pretty tense night over in Columbia right now. South Carolina should beat Duke tomorrow, but I imagine that Duke will play a little better than they did earlier today.
Ole Miss dropped a 10 inning deal to Utah. That one shocked me. Utah is still sub .500 even after the win today, although they played very well in the Pac 12 (who had a pretty bad as a league today)... Their guy Jayson Rose is supposed to be pretty good. Still, Ole Miss was up 5-2 in the 6th and the Rebels just don't give up leads with their bullpen. Even worse for Ole Miss was that it looked like Wyatt Short threw 2 1/3 tonight, so you've got to imagine that they'll have to do it without him tomorrow. I really thought that Ole Miss was the best team that came to Athens this year... They're just so balanced... Just like South Carolina, it can all end tomorrow if they don't rally.
Southern Miss hammered South Alabama 14-2. The score surprised me there. Kevin Hill apparently didn't have a lot today. That has to be incredibly deflating for the Jaguars... I wish we could have played South Alabama all three games during that "Bulldog Invitational" weekend. I thought they were a solid team and that we would have benefited more from playing them all three than playing Cincinnati and Western Kentucky. In all probability, that was Kevin Hill's final college start. Heck of a career that guy had. Probably pitched the second best game against us this year after Logan Shore's start down in Gainesville.
Wright State was walked off by Ohio State and lost, I think 7-6. It was a 1 run loss and Ohio State scored 2 in the last inning to win it. That's a crusher anyway, but especially given that Ohio State is an in-state team. I definitely thought that Wright State was the best team we saw in the non-conference slate... For their sake I hope they can bounce back tomorrow. I've been saying all year that they'd give someone a headache in a regional. That group needs to hang around for a little bit.
tech lost to UConn in Gainesville Florida. That doesn't surprise me a great deal. The postseason struggles for tech continue, "mysteriously" so. If any UConn fans made it down there (how disappointing must it be to get to leave Connecticut for a weekend, only to end up in Gainesvile Florida?!) I hope they chanted "just like basketball." I was in undergrad at UGA when UConn beat tech in the national title game in hoops... Some people asked me why I was pulling so hard for the Huskies, which I thought was just an absurd question. Someone said "I mean, state pride doesn't compel you to pull for tech?" I said "No, it's because I love the state of Georgia that I can't pull for tech."
