Look back, look ahead: Opportunity knocks for Gamecocks
South Carolina (24-5 overall) moved past the halfway point of the 2016 regular season schedule this past weekend at Vanderbilt, and it is difficult to image the first half unfolding any better for the Gamecocks.
With three SEC series in the books, USC is tied with top-ranked Florida for the best record (7-2) in the SEC. Despite losing this past weekend’s series at Vanderbilt, the truth is the Gamecocks were playing with house money after sweeping Arkansas and Ole Miss to start the conference slate.
Baseball is a marathon, not a sprint (unlike football where every game is life-or-death), so the chief goal heading to Nashville to face the pitching-rich Commodores was avoiding being swept. USC managed to win one game, keeping them atop the league standings.
“I’m walking out of here (Hawkins Field in Nashville) feeling good about what we have done through nine SEC games and the first half of the season,” USC coach Chad Holbrook said. “I’m looking forward to the second half because we have put ourselves in a good spot. We have played well for the most part. You always want some plays back, but I’m proud of my team for where they are at right now. Hopefully, we’ll play some of our best baseball in front of us.”
Last year, the Gamecocks opened conference play with a three-game sweep over Kentucky. But they lost the next four series, compiling a 3-9 record in the process and falling to 6-9 overall. USC never fully recovered and failed to earn at-large berth into the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1999.
Right now, the Gamecocks are two games ahead of last year’s pace after nine SEC contests. Better yet, they have three very winnable series against Tennessee (April 8-10), Georgia (April 15-17) and Missouri (22-24) coming up on the schedule, handing them an opportunity to pile up some conference wins before facing Florida April 29-May 1 at Founders Park in what could be a showdown series for the SEC East lead.
Three of the next four SEC series are at home after consecutive road series at Ole Miss and Vanderbilt.
“Every series in this league is difficult,” Holbrook said. “We’ve had six games on the road, two of them against top five or six teams. We’ve put ourselves in a good spot. That being said, 8-1 is a lot better than 7-2, and we had a chance to do that. So, I will lose a lot of sleep tonight over what could have been.”
USC led the rubber game Saturday against Vanderbilt by a score of 4-1 in the bottom of the fifth inning before an avalanche of defensive and pitching mistakes opened the door for the Commodores to score nine times in their last four at-bats.
Nonetheless, if USC goes 6-3 over the next three series – feasible considering Tennessee, Georgia and Missouri are a combined 9-18 in the league – they would equal the number of SEC wins last year (13) with four series remaining on the schedule plus the SEC Tournament in Hoover (May 24-29).
Bearing in mind the level of difficulty of the early SEC slate, would USC have signed up for a 7-2 league record after the opening three weekends? Absolutely.
“What is most encouraging for us is we feel we haven’t played our best baseball yet,” senior infielder D.C. Arendas said. “We’ve had a few good weekends, but we know we have some things to improve on. We leave (Nashville) with a bitter taste in our mouths, but we know what we have to work on and we have another big week coming up starting Tuesday.”
NOTES:
-- USC announced Monday afternoon junior RHP Taylor Widener (0-1, 4.41 ERA, 16.1 IP, 16 K, 5 BB) will be the starting pitcher against Coastal Carolina Tuesday night.
-- USC is currently ranked No. 6 by Collegiate Baseball, No. 7 in the USA Today Coaches Poll, No. 8 by Baseball America and D1Baseball and No. 11 by Perfect Game. Coastal Carolina is ranked No. 23 in this week’s Collegiate Baseball Top 30.
-- After striking out 11 Vanderbilt batters in 8.0 scoreless innings on Saturday, Braden Webb was named SEC Freshman of the Week for the second consecutive week. He limited the Commodores to two hits, with the first coming with two outs in the sixth inning. Webb has allowed just six hits and struck out 25 batters in his last two appearance (at Ole Miss, at Vanderbilt). For the season, Webb is 6-1 with a 1.70 ERA in 42.1 innings on the season.
-- DC Arendas led USC in hitting at Vanderbilt, batting .400 (4-10) with four runs scored. Arendas has been stellar defensively with just one error in 92 chances.
-- Alex Destino extended his hitting streak to 20 games before suffering a shoulder injury in Saturday night’s win that will keep him out of Tuesday night’s game. USC is hopeful Destino will be ready to play Friday night in the series opener against Tennessee. Destino is batting .360 (41-114) with four homers, seven doubles and 26 RBI this seaosn.
-- Gene Cone carries a 14-game hitting streak into Tuesday night’s game. Mostly batting leadoff, Cone has raised his batting average to .329 (28-85) for the season with 21 runs scored.
-- Josh Reagan hurled a perfect ninth on Saturday night at Vanderbilt and has now allowed just one run and 10 hits in 24.0 innings pitched this season. Opponents are batting .125 against him.
-- Even though John Jones struggled a bit at the plate against Vanderbilt pitching, going 3-for-12 with two runs scored, two doubles and three strikeouts, he still ranks among the best hitters in the SEC with a .369 batting average, six homers and 33 RBI. Jones is tied for second in the SEC in homers and fifth in RBI.
-- Clarke Schmidt was named National Co-Pitcher of the Month for March by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA). Schmidt won four games last month and struck out 46 batters in 37.0 innings pitched with a 2.19 ERA. Overall, he is 6-1 with a 1.80 ERA in 50.0 IP. He has allowed 12 runs on 39 hits with 60 strikeouts and seven walks. Opponents are batting .214 against him. Schmidt is tied for the SEC lead in strikeouts, second in innings pitched and tied for second in wins.
-- The Gamecocks lead the SEC in team ERA (2.52) and opponents batting average (.208). They have recorded 288 strikeouts in 261.0 IP.
-- USC has outscored opponents by a 52-18 margin in the first two innings. The Gamecocks are 20-1 when scoring first and 12-1 when they score in the first inning. USC is 15-0 when they collect 10+ hits.
LAST WEEK’S RESULTS:
March 29 vs. College of Charleston, L 6-5 (13 inn.)
March 31 at Vanderbilt, L 6-3
April 1 at Vanderbilt, W 4-0
April 2 at Vanderbilt, L 10-6
THIS WEEK’S SCHEDULE:
Tuesday vs. Coastal Carolina, 7 p.m. (SEC Network)
April 8 vs. Tennessee, 7 p.m. (SEC Network Plus)
April 9 vs. Tennessee, 4 p.m. (SEC Network Plus)
April 10 vs. Tennessee, 1:30 p.m. (SEC Network Plus)
SEC EAST STANDINGS (As of April 4)
South Carolina 7-2
Florida 7-2
Vanderbilt 6-3
Kentucky 6-3
Georgia 4-5
Tennessee 3-6
Missouri 2-7
