Look back, look ahead: Gamecocks prepare for battle of division leaders
Chaos reigns at every level of the SEC standings.
Led by South Carolina (16-7), Florida (16-7) and Texas A&M (16-8), four teams have 15 or 16 conference wins heading into the final two weekends of the regular season. Mississippi State is 15-9.
Besides getting a nice trophy from SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey, the regular season champion is awarded the No. 1 seed for the conference tournament (May 24-29 in Hoover, Ala.), a first-round bye (along with No. 2, No. 3 and No. 4 seeds) and benefits from a favorable time slot for its tourney opener on May 25 (5:30 ET) vs. the winner of the No. 8 vs. No. 9 single elimination game.
The late season drama reaches a high water mark this coming weekend when the Gamecocks host Texas A&M in a three-game showdown of division leaders at Founders Park beginning Friday at 7 p.m.
“(Before the season) I would have signed up for 16-7 and 36 wins at this point, so we have played our way into a good spot,” USC coach Chad Holbrook said. “We control our own destiny.”
Meanwhile, Vanderbilt (a disappointing 14-10) travels to Florida for a three-game series some predicted before the season started would decide the SEC Eastern Division. But the Commodores have lost three of their last five series and suffered the humiliation of being no-hit Saturday by Texas A&M’s Kyle Simonds in the rubber game of a three-game set in College Station.
The Aggies lead the SEC West by one game over Mississippi State (15-9), but the Aggies own the tiebreaker over the Bulldogs since they swept the 3-game series in Starkville April 15-17 between the two schools.
Thus, barring a Mississippi State sweep on the road against Auburn, Texas A&M knows they will all but wrap up the SEC West title with a series win in Columbia this weekend, guaranteeing them the No. 1 or No. 2 seed for the SEC Tournament and virtually assure them of hosting a NCAA Regional June 3-6.
While USC, Florida, Texas A&M and Mississippi State battle at the top of the standings, five teams are jockeying to fill three SEC Tournament spots. Alabama is No. 9 on the ladder with a 12-12 record. After the Tide, the most conference wins are eight by Auburn and Georgia, so there is significant separation between the top nine schools and the bottom five.
Auburn and Georgia, two long-time rivals, are battling with Arkansas, Missouri and Tennessee (all 7-17) to get to Hoover.
Two of those five teams won’t make it.
One big series at the bottom of the table this coming weekend: Georgia at Missouri. It could serve as a SEC Tournament elimination series.
If the Gamecocks fall short in their quest for the SEC East title, Sunday’s 5-4 loss in 12 innings at Kentucky will certainly loom large. The Gamecocks stranded 15 runners and outhit the Wildcats, 14-5, without committing an error. Yet, the lack of clutch hitting haunted USC and prevented them from maintaining a one-game divisional lead.
“We have to have guys step up with people on base,” Chad Holbrook said. We had the game in our hands but we didn’t have some quality at-bats with runners in scoring position. When you get opportunities to win on the road in this league, you have to take advantage. We didn’t do that.”
Few innings were as painful as the top of the 11th when the Gamecocks had runners at first and third with no outs, but failed to score when Alex Destino and Chris Cullen struckout. Then, after the bases became loaded on a walk, Madison Stokes fanned.
“It baffles me that we can’t make contact with a runner at third,” Holbrook said. “Toughness and competitiveness come out when people are on base and you have to hit the pitcher’s best pitch. (Sunday) we couldn’t do it. We played with a lot of effort and laid it on the line, but we just couldn’t get a hot when we needed it. We outhit our opponent, but when the chips were down, they played better than we did.”
NOTES:
-- The Gamecocks announced Monday night junior RHP Taylor Widener will start Tuesday’s 7 p.m. nonconference home game vs. Presbyterian at Founders Park.
-- The Gamecocks are ranked in the Top 10 of the official NCAA RPI and every major national poll:
Official NCAA RPI - No. 5
Collegiate Baseball – No. 3
USA Today Coaches – No. 8
Baseball America – No. 8
D1 Baseball – No. 9
Perfect Game USA – No. 8
NCBWA – No. 10.
Remarkably, the top 10 teams in the latest NCAA RPI released Monday are all from the SEC and ACC. The Gamecocks are the third highest ranking SEC team behind Florida (No. 1) and Texas A&M (No. 4). Louisville and Miami from the ACC are No. 2 and 3, respectively.
-- Junior OF Gene Cone extended his school record hitting streak to 31 games before it was halted on Saturday in the 6-0 loss at Kentucky. He has reached base safely in 34 straight games. Cone leads the Gamecocks with a .364 average (56-for-154) with 21 RBI, 39 runs scored, 11 doubles, two triples and three homers. He owns a .463 on-base percentage. Cone is fourth in the SEC in hitting and on-base percentage.
-- Cone is batting .422 (38-for-90) in 23 SEC games with 12 RBI, 28 runs scored and .527 on-base percentage. Cone leads the SEC in runs scored in conference games.
-- Clarke Schmidt and Braden Webb are tied for the SEC lead in wins (9) along with Florida right-handers Alex Faedo and Logan Shore. Schmidt leads the SEC in strikeouts (98 in 83.2 IP), is fourth in innings pitched and seventh in earned run average (2.37). Schmidt owns a 5-1 SEC record and 3.42 ERA in league games with 66 strikeouts and 10 walks in 55.1 innings pitched against SEC foes. Webb is 9-3 with a 3.38 ERA in 72.0 IP. He has allowed 32 runs on 51 hits with 93 strikeouts.
-- Sophomore OF Alex Destino homered twice last week, including a home run and four RBI in the 10-5 win over Kentucky in Game 1. Destino is hitting .345 (58-for-168) with six homers and 44 RBI on the year. His current batting average is 94 points better than last season’s lowly .251 average (42-167).
-- Webb’s six wins in league play are tied for sixth-highest in school history and are the most by a Gamecock pitcher since Michael Roth went 6-3 in 2011. His 72 strikeouts in SEC play are just four shy of the most ever by a Gamecock pitcher. Kip Bouknight struck out 76 SEC batters in 1999. Webb’s 72-strikeout total is third-highest with Schmidt’s 66 strikeouts tied for sixth most.
-- Two Gamecocks have started all 47 games this season – OF Dom Thompson-Williams and 3B Jonah Bride. DTW is hitting .328 (57-for-174) with 33 RBI and 39 runs scored. He leads the Gamecocks with 13 doubles and 16 stolen bases. DTW is eighth in the SEC in stolen bases on the year.
-- Marcus Mooney had three multi-hit games last week, two at Kentucky, and is now batting .313 (45-144) for the season, exactly 100 points above last season’s final mark of .213 (23-for-108) when he appeared in just 32 games due to injuries.
-- Closer Josh Reagan continues to lead the SEC with 11 saves on the year. He owns a 1.40 ERA in a team-high 23 relief appearances. Reagan has allowed six runs on 21 hits in 38.2 innings with opponents batting just .158 against him. He has 36 strikeouts to 11 walks. Reagan made two appearances in the Kentucky series, pitching 1.2 scoreless innings with a pair of strikeouts in Friday’s 10-5 win. He allowed one run on one hit with five strikeouts in three innings of Sunday’s 5-4 12-inning loss to the Wildcats.
-- The Gamecocks continue to shine defensively, compiling a .981 team fielding percentage. They have committed just 32 errors, second fewest in the SEC, in 47 games. Offensively, USC has 20 games with 10+ hits. Record in those games? 19-1.
LAST WEEK’S RESULTS:
May 4 vs. USC Upstate, W 4-1
May 6 at Kentucky, W 10-5
May 7 at Kentucky, L 6-0
May 8 at Kentucky, L 5-4 (12)
THIS WEEK’S SCHEDULE:
Tuesday vs. Presbyterian, 7 p.m. (SEC Network Plus)
Friday vs. Texas A&M, 7 p.m. (SEC Network Plus)
Saturday vs. Texas A&M, 7:30 p.m. (SEC Network)
Sunday vs. Texas A&M, 4 p.m. (SEC Network)
SEC EAST STANDINGS (As of May 9)
South Carolina 16-7
Florida 16-7
Vanderbilt 14-10
Kentucky 13-11
Georgia 8-16
Missouri 7-17
Tennessee 7-17
SEC TOURNAMENT LADDER
1. South Carolina or Florida 16-7
2. Texas A&M 16-8
3. South Carolina or Florida 16-7
4. Mississippi State 15-9
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5-7. LSU, Ole Miss and Vanderbilt 14-10
8. Kentucky 13-11
9. Alabama 12-12
10. Auburn 8-16 (Wins tiebreaker over Georgia)
11. Georgia 8-16
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12-14. Arkansas, Missouri and Tennessee, 7-17
NOTE: Division winners are automatically seeded No. 1 and No. 2 for the SEC Tournament. The remainder of the 12-team field is seeded based on winning percentage. The No. 13 and 14 teams do not qualify for the SEC Tournament.
