After failing to capitalize on momentum, Gamecocks facing uphill battle
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Chad Holbrook came out of the dugout in the seventh inning and made a beeline to the mound. He stood and waited for home plate umpire Skip Deitz to make his way up to the rubber before letting him have it.
What happened next was a five-minute barrage from the Gamecocks’ head coach, who kicked dirt on home plate and turned red in the face before being ejected. Holbrook was arguing balls and strikes in what appeared to be a constantly moving strike zone.
“I think he wanted to voice that opinion in that circumstance" associate head coach Jerry Meyers said. "It did escalate and I was surprised, but he’s sticking up for our team. He’s always got our team’s back. He’s going to fight for our guys and that’s just one exhibition of him doing that. I think everyone can appreciate what he was trying to do.”
After, the crowd livened up and the Gamecocks were holding all of the momentum trailing by one run.
But, it was all for naught, as the Gamecocks couldn’t capitalize on crowd support, mustering only three base runners and no hits in the last three innings in a 5-4 loss to Rhode Island in their first game of the Columbia regional.
“The end result is obviously very frustrating,” Meyers said. “We appreciate the crowd. They were trying for us; they were trying to put pressure on the other team. I feel like they did that for us. It’s disappointing on our end regardless of the crowd. It’s disappointing for them as well because they were behind us as strong as they had been all year.”
It was the Gamecocks first loss in the opening game of a regional since 1983.
Now, South Carolina (42-16) faces an uphill battle just to win the double-elimination regional. The Gamecocks must win four games in three days in order to advance to the Super Regionals.
It starts tomorrow at noon in the loser’s bracket against Duke. If South Carolina wins that game, they advance to play the loser of the UNCW and Rhode Island game, playing on Sunday at noon.
If the Gamecocks win Sunday at noon, then they advance to the regional final that night at 6 p.m., playing the winner of the UNCW and Rhode Island game. They would need to beat either UNCW or Rhode Island twice to advance out of the regional.
The final game would be Monday at 6 p.m. if necessary. But the Gamecocks have to focus on the win-or-lose game tomorrow afternoon.
Braden Webb (10-5, 3.39 ERA) will start for South Carolina against the Blue Devils. Duke will start lefty Trent Swart (4-2, 3.45 ERA). The loser is eliminated from the NCAA Tournament.
Saturday’s game will be Webb’s second straight start in an elimination game, the first being in the SEC Tournament against Texas A&M.
In that game, he pitched well after a shaky start, going 6.2 innings and giving up only three runs on six hits. Tomorrow will likely be the biggest game of his career, but his coach thinks he’s up for the task.
“You can’t try to make it bigger than it is,” Meyers said. “Just like the other fifteen starts that he’s had, he’s got to try and be solid and pitch his game. Everybody knows the importance of it and everybody’s going to feel that a little bit. He can’t change anything, he can’t try and do more, he can’t try to pitch better. He’s just got to try to be himself.”
If the Gamecocks win, South Carolina will likely start Adam Hill on Sunday in the early game and if they advance, it becomes a toss up on who starts the next game or even Monday’s game.
The Gamecocks are no strangers to loser’s brackets in the NCAA Tournament, coming from there in Omaha to win the 2010 National Title. Knowing that, the team seems ready for the uphill battle that will be the next three days.
“We know we have to win every game from here on out,” pitcher Clarke Schmidt said, “so we’re ready for what’s coming forward and ready to get after it.”
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