Last year I told you that South Carolina was living off of their name and was a program in decline. And last year I was right. The Gamecocks failed to make a regional for the first time in ages after slogging their way through several unimpressive weekends. Personally, I was less than impressed with Chad Holbrook’s public comments during the season last year and in June, with his vows of getting it fixed, I thought “yeah, we’ll see…”
To the Gamecocks’ credit, though, they’ve done a fantastic job this season. South Carolina effectively targeted some impact JUCO players and has gotten a huge lift from their starting pitching. This certainly appears to be the most imposing Gamecock squad we’ve faced in 2012 (or maybe 2011… that 2012 team was the greatest testament to a head coach that I can imagine).
South Carolina comes in at 28-6 (we beat them in football by that score in 1992) and a sterling 10-2 in the SEC (our overall football record in 1992, coincidently enough). The Gamecocks opened the season 10-0, sweeping a couple of northern schools (Albany and Penn State) and winning the first game from Clemson in Columbia. The next two days, at Flour Field and at Clemson respectively, would see the Gamecocks outscored 9-1 as they dropped the series to the arch rivals for the second straight year. South Carolina rebounded with a sweep of our friends from Charleston Southern.
They opened league play against Arkansas. We’ve discussed the loud statements that Alabama and Miss State made on opening weekend, going on the road and winning series from LSU and Vanderbilt respectively. South Carolina made a pretty loud statement themselves, sweeping an Arkansas group that played in Omaha last year. Then the Gamecocks yelled a little louder, going on the road and sweeping Ole Miss in Oxford. A more impressive two weekends in league play cannot be claimed by anyone, as far as I can tell.
South Carolina traveled to Nashville and dropped 2/3 to Vanderbilt. No shame in that. The Gamecocks last weekend swept a Tennessee team that I continue to think is better than their record (I think that about Missouri too). Last night they were blown out in Charlotte by North Carolina, 15-0. So, like Texas A&M, they come in off of a losing effort against a baseball blue blood in the mid week.
Tomorrow night, we’ll see Clark Schmidt, a smallish sophomore righty from Acworth, by way of Allatoona High School. Schmidt may well have taken the biggest step forward of any pitcher in the conference over the off-season. Schmidt comes in at 7-1 in 8 appearances, all starts, and sports a 1.77 ERA. He’s thrown 56 innings (do the math, good chance he’ll work past night fall against us) and recorded a whopping 70/10 K/BB. The opposition is only hitting .231 against him. He averages just over 1 extra base hit per start. His 56 innings lead their staff.
Saturday, after that football practice that you may have heard about, we’ll face off with Braden Webb, a lanky “freshman” righty from Owasso Oklahoma. Webb is somehow a freshman despite the fact that he will turn 21 later this month, which I imagine will make him immensely popular with the rest of the freshman (and sophomore) class. Webb sports a similar 7-1 record in 8 appearances, all starts. He has a 2.17 ERA. In 49 2/3 innings he has 63 strike outs and 24 walks. Opponents are only hitting .157 against him. He allows slightly less than one extra base hit per start. Earlier this month, at Vanderbilt, Webb was nails, was throwing 8 innings and 2 hit, 11 strikeout baseball en route to the Gamecocks’ win up there. You do that to Vanderbilt’s hitters, at their park, and you’ve done something. That start earned him SEC Freshman of the Week honors. The previous weekend, he was National Player of the Week after carding 14 strikeouts in 8+ innings in Oxford.
Sunday afternoon, we’ll get Adam Hill, a bean pole freshman righty from Anderson South Carolina. Hill was a big time prospect coming out of the high school last year and his numbers this year are solid. He’s 5-0 in 8 appearances, all starts, and has a 2.87 ERA. He’s thrown 37 2/3 innings and has a nice 47/13 K/BB. Opponents are hitting .214 against him and he’s only allowed 5 extra base hits all season, none longer than a double.
I’m seeing some patterns here, and it reminds me a bit on paper of the early 2010s Gamecocks that stopped playing so much gorilla ball and really start pitching. Just the numbers alone suggest a tremendous challenge for our hitters this weekend as these guys don’t give up a lot of hits, and very few for extra bases. They’ve played the same number of games that we have and have walked 41 fewer hitters while striking out 40 more.
Offensively, South Carolina is paced by Alex Destino. The left handed hitting OF from Weaverville NC comes In at .356/.397/.517 with 4 HRs and 27 RBI. We’ll see in the middle of the order tomorrow night I’d imagine, but he may not start against Conner Jones on Saturday.
Dom Thomas-Williams is a JUCO transfer from Sioux City Iowa, by way of Iowa Western. We will probably see him in CF, but he may play LF or RF also. He’s hitting .344/.447/.536 with 4 HRs and 28 RBIs and also leads their team in stolen bases with 13 (in 16 attempts. Only 5 successes or 8 attempts).
John Jones is another JUCO guy we should see behind the plate or DHing. The sophomore from Orlando is hitting .331/.432/.531 with a team leading 6 HRs and team leading 34 RBIs.
Finally, their shortstop is Marcus Mooney. He’s the 3rd of Mooney boys to play SS at an SEC school (two played for South Carolina, the oldest played at Florida).
These guys have hit the same number of HRs as we have (23), but have 56 more RBIs to their credit. Though nobody outside of Thomas-Williams runs a lot, they have managed to steal 14 more bases than we have in 22 more attempts… They have a handful of steals scattered throughout. They’re fielding .979 as a team.
Obviously, you don’t go 28-6/ 10-2 without looking like a really good team. And they certainly do look like a really good team. We’ve beaten these guys two years in a row and I’m sure they’re well aware of that. Getting them at home helps, but I think that this is the best team we’ve faced so far this season.
To the Gamecocks’ credit, though, they’ve done a fantastic job this season. South Carolina effectively targeted some impact JUCO players and has gotten a huge lift from their starting pitching. This certainly appears to be the most imposing Gamecock squad we’ve faced in 2012 (or maybe 2011… that 2012 team was the greatest testament to a head coach that I can imagine).
South Carolina comes in at 28-6 (we beat them in football by that score in 1992) and a sterling 10-2 in the SEC (our overall football record in 1992, coincidently enough). The Gamecocks opened the season 10-0, sweeping a couple of northern schools (Albany and Penn State) and winning the first game from Clemson in Columbia. The next two days, at Flour Field and at Clemson respectively, would see the Gamecocks outscored 9-1 as they dropped the series to the arch rivals for the second straight year. South Carolina rebounded with a sweep of our friends from Charleston Southern.
They opened league play against Arkansas. We’ve discussed the loud statements that Alabama and Miss State made on opening weekend, going on the road and winning series from LSU and Vanderbilt respectively. South Carolina made a pretty loud statement themselves, sweeping an Arkansas group that played in Omaha last year. Then the Gamecocks yelled a little louder, going on the road and sweeping Ole Miss in Oxford. A more impressive two weekends in league play cannot be claimed by anyone, as far as I can tell.
South Carolina traveled to Nashville and dropped 2/3 to Vanderbilt. No shame in that. The Gamecocks last weekend swept a Tennessee team that I continue to think is better than their record (I think that about Missouri too). Last night they were blown out in Charlotte by North Carolina, 15-0. So, like Texas A&M, they come in off of a losing effort against a baseball blue blood in the mid week.
Tomorrow night, we’ll see Clark Schmidt, a smallish sophomore righty from Acworth, by way of Allatoona High School. Schmidt may well have taken the biggest step forward of any pitcher in the conference over the off-season. Schmidt comes in at 7-1 in 8 appearances, all starts, and sports a 1.77 ERA. He’s thrown 56 innings (do the math, good chance he’ll work past night fall against us) and recorded a whopping 70/10 K/BB. The opposition is only hitting .231 against him. He averages just over 1 extra base hit per start. His 56 innings lead their staff.
Saturday, after that football practice that you may have heard about, we’ll face off with Braden Webb, a lanky “freshman” righty from Owasso Oklahoma. Webb is somehow a freshman despite the fact that he will turn 21 later this month, which I imagine will make him immensely popular with the rest of the freshman (and sophomore) class. Webb sports a similar 7-1 record in 8 appearances, all starts. He has a 2.17 ERA. In 49 2/3 innings he has 63 strike outs and 24 walks. Opponents are only hitting .157 against him. He allows slightly less than one extra base hit per start. Earlier this month, at Vanderbilt, Webb was nails, was throwing 8 innings and 2 hit, 11 strikeout baseball en route to the Gamecocks’ win up there. You do that to Vanderbilt’s hitters, at their park, and you’ve done something. That start earned him SEC Freshman of the Week honors. The previous weekend, he was National Player of the Week after carding 14 strikeouts in 8+ innings in Oxford.
Sunday afternoon, we’ll get Adam Hill, a bean pole freshman righty from Anderson South Carolina. Hill was a big time prospect coming out of the high school last year and his numbers this year are solid. He’s 5-0 in 8 appearances, all starts, and has a 2.87 ERA. He’s thrown 37 2/3 innings and has a nice 47/13 K/BB. Opponents are hitting .214 against him and he’s only allowed 5 extra base hits all season, none longer than a double.
I’m seeing some patterns here, and it reminds me a bit on paper of the early 2010s Gamecocks that stopped playing so much gorilla ball and really start pitching. Just the numbers alone suggest a tremendous challenge for our hitters this weekend as these guys don’t give up a lot of hits, and very few for extra bases. They’ve played the same number of games that we have and have walked 41 fewer hitters while striking out 40 more.
Offensively, South Carolina is paced by Alex Destino. The left handed hitting OF from Weaverville NC comes In at .356/.397/.517 with 4 HRs and 27 RBI. We’ll see in the middle of the order tomorrow night I’d imagine, but he may not start against Conner Jones on Saturday.
Dom Thomas-Williams is a JUCO transfer from Sioux City Iowa, by way of Iowa Western. We will probably see him in CF, but he may play LF or RF also. He’s hitting .344/.447/.536 with 4 HRs and 28 RBIs and also leads their team in stolen bases with 13 (in 16 attempts. Only 5 successes or 8 attempts).
John Jones is another JUCO guy we should see behind the plate or DHing. The sophomore from Orlando is hitting .331/.432/.531 with a team leading 6 HRs and team leading 34 RBIs.
Finally, their shortstop is Marcus Mooney. He’s the 3rd of Mooney boys to play SS at an SEC school (two played for South Carolina, the oldest played at Florida).
These guys have hit the same number of HRs as we have (23), but have 56 more RBIs to their credit. Though nobody outside of Thomas-Williams runs a lot, they have managed to steal 14 more bases than we have in 22 more attempts… They have a handful of steals scattered throughout. They’re fielding .979 as a team.
Obviously, you don’t go 28-6/ 10-2 without looking like a really good team. And they certainly do look like a really good team. We’ve beaten these guys two years in a row and I’m sure they’re well aware of that. Getting them at home helps, but I think that this is the best team we’ve faced so far this season.
