Look back, look ahead: Gamecocks, SEC prepare for tense closing weekend
With six teams currently owning 17 or 18 league wins, the final weekend of SEC play promises to be one of the wildest and most exciting in recent memory.
Tension? Plenty to fill the air.
Those half dozen teams, which include South Carolina (17-9) and Florida (18-8) and four schools from the SEC West (Texas A&M, Mississippi State, Ole Miss and LSU), are all battling fiercely to finish among the four teams in the final SEC standings.
Why? The top four teams receive first-round byes in the SEC Tournament, avoiding the treacherous and tricky single elimination round on Tuesday, May 24 at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium in Hoover, Ala.
Two of those six schools, though, won’t join that elite group and will be on the outside looking in when the dust settles Saturday night and the regular season is complete.
The Gamecocks are still pursuing a top eight national seed and likely must win at least two of three games at Alabama (15-12 in SEC) in order to stay in contention.
USC squares off with the surging Crimson Tide (road sweep at Arkansas this past weekend; 5-1 in their last six SEC games) starting Thursday night at Sewell-Thomas Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Ala.
“We’re going to do everything in our power to go down there and put ourselves in position to win the series,” USC coach Chad Holbrook said. “Alabama is feeling great about themselves. They have had a solid year and are coming off a sweep on the road.
“They have a great pitching staff that has put up numbers all year long. All you have to do is look at their scores in the league. Nobody is scoring on them. So, the games will be close and tight if we pitch well. The game will be on the line every pitch.”
Because the Gamecocks hold a one-half game lead over Ole Miss and LSU (both 17-10) in the overall standings, winning the Alabama series would clinch a top four seed for the Gamecocks UNLESS either the Rebels or LSU sweep Texas A&M or Florida, respectively.
However, if USC wins the Alabama series (and finishes with 19 SEC wins) and either Ole Miss or LSU sweep, the Gamecocks would finish ahead of Texas A&M or Florida in the final standings because the Aggies/Gators would have 18 wins. Got it?
“Florida-LSU is going to be a knock-down, drag out and Ole Miss-Texas A&M is going to be a knock-down, drag out,” Holbrook said. “Then us going to Alabama is a flip of the coin. I hope we go there and play great baseball and put ourselves in a great position. There are a lot of competitive series on the final weekend. That’s what makes this league fun. It’s what it’s all about.”
Presently trailing Florida by a game, USC’s hopes of winning the SEC East hinge on finishing plus-2 or better in the victory margin over the Gators, which travel to Baton Rouge to face LSU at raucous Alex Box Stadium.
“After 26 games, we’re still in position to win our division if we play great baseball,” Holbrook said. “We’re competing for something on the last weekend. To me as a coach, I feel good about that, especially after what we went through a year ago.”
Florida owns the tie-breaker over USC because the Gators have a better divisional record (11-6) than the Gamecocks (10-7). Realistically, USC’s best hope of winning the division is sweeping Alabama and Florida loses two of three at LSU.
How will everything play out? Stay tuned.
NOTES:
-- The Gamecocks announced Monday night junior RHP Colie Bowers, a Lexington native and JUCO transfer from USC Sumter, will start Tuesday night’s home game against The Citadel. Bowers is 1-0 with a 1.93 ERA in 9.1 innings with 11 strikeouts and 8 walks. “I’m glad we get to play after this scenario (winning final game of TAM series) where we’re feeling pretty good about ourselves,” Holbrook said. “We need to get some momentum going into the last series of the year.”
-- The Gamecocks are ranked in the Top 10 of the official NCAA RPI and every major national poll:
Official NCAA RPI - No. 7
Collegiate Baseball – No. 6
USA Today Coaches – No. 10
Baseball America – No. 10
D1 Baseball – No. 11
Perfect Game USA – No. 8
NCBWA – No. 10
-- Six of the top nine teams in the official NCAA RPI are from the SEC: Florida (1), Texas A&M (4), Ole Miss (5), USC (7), Mississippi State (8) and Vanderbilt (9).
-- USC and Florida share the best home record in the SEC (29-4).
-- Gene Cone ranks second in the SEC in on-base percentage (.466) and sixth in batting average (.354). Cone has saved his best for league play as he has hit .417 (40-for-96) in 26 SEC games with 12 RBI and 29 runs scored. He has 25 walks to eight strikeouts and leads the SEC with a .540 on-base percentage in conference games. His 29 runs scored in league games are the most by a SEC player.
-- Clarke Schmidt (9-2, 2.46 ERA, 30 runs and 80 hits in 91.1 IP) became the first Gamecock pitcher since Michael Roth in 2011 to reach the single-season 100 strikeout plateau. Schmidt currently leads the SEC with 102 strikeouts, is second in innings pitched, tied for third in wins and seventh in ERA. Schmidt has been strong in SEC games with a 5-2 record and 3.43 ERA against league foes. He has 70 strikeouts in 63.0 innings pitched in SEC games.
-- After his first career multi-homer game, Dom Thompson-Williams ranks ninth in the SEC in runs scored and tied for 11th in doubles. He leads the Gamecocks with a team-high 18 multi-hit games and is tied for second with 11 multi-RBI contests.
-- Freshman RHP Braden Webb joined Schmidt in the 100-strikeout club on Saturday. For the season, he is 9-4 with a 3.48 ERA in 77.2 IP with 100 strikeouts, second in the SEC behind Webb. Opponents are batting just .206 against him. Webb is tied with Schmidt for third in the SEC in wins. Webb’s six SEC wins ties him with Logan Shore and Alex Faedo of Florida and Dakota Hudson of Mississippi State for the most victories in league play. In addition, his 79 strikeouts are also the most by a SEC pitcher in league contests.
-- After working 4.1 innings in Sunday’s win over Texas A&M, junior LHP Josh Reagan is 2-2 with 11 saves and a 1.67 ERA in 24 relief appearances. Reagan has allowed eight runs on 24 hits in 43.0 IP with 38 strikeouts and 15 walks. He is tied for first in the SEC in saves and tied for sixth in appearances.
-- Five of Tyler Johnson’s six saves have come in SEC play, fourth-best in the conference. Johnson has 39 strikeouts in 35.2 innings with opponents batting .198 against him.
-- Jonah Bride and DTW are the only Gamecocks players to start all 51 games this season.
-- The Gamecocks own a team ERA of 3.26 on the year, fifth-best in the SEC. Their OBA of .223 is best in the SEC. USC has allowed 188 runs on 377 hits with 492 strikeouts in 458.0 innings pitched. Offensively, Carolina is seventh in the SEC in hitting with a team average of .285 (492-for-1728) as well as a .378 on-base percentage and a .407 slugging percentage.
-- Defensively, the Gamecocks are fielding .980 as a team with just 37 errors in 51 games on the year, sec0ond-best in the conference.
-- Best two indicators of which team will win a Gamecocks baseball game: The team that leads after the sixth inning and whether the Gamecocks have 10+ hits. The Gamecocks are 34-1 when leading after the sixth inning and 20-1 when collecting 10 hits or more.
LAST WEEK’S RESULTS:
May 10 vs. Presbyterian, W 3-1
May 13 vs. Texas A&M, L 3-0
May 14 vs. Texas A&M, L 5-2
May 15 vs. Texas A&M, W 10-7
THIS WEEK’S SCHEDULE:
Tuesday vs. The Citadel, 7 p.m. (SEC Network Plus)
Thursday at Alabama, 8 p.m. (SEC Network Plus)
Friday at Alabama, 8 p.m. (SEC Network Plus)
Saturday at Alabama, 3 p.m. (SEC Network Plus)
(All times Eastern)
SEC EAST STANDINGS (As of May 16)
Florida 18-8
South Carolina 17-9
Vanderbilt 15-12
Kentucky 13-14
Georgia 10-17
Missouri 8-19
Tennessee 7-20
SEC TOURNAMENT LADDER
1. Florida 18-8
2. Texas A&M 18-9
3. Mississippi State 18-9
4. South Carolina 17-9
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5. Ole Miss 17-10 (Wins tiebreaker vs. LSU)
6. LSU 17-10
7. Alabama 15-12 (Wins tiebreaker vs. Vanderbilt)
8. Vanderbilt 15-12
9. Kentucky 13-14
10. Georgia 10-17
11. Missouri 8-19 (Wins tiebreaker vs. Auburn)
12. Auburn 8-19
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13. Tennessee 7-20
14. Arkansas 7-20
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 Mo. 13 and 14 teams do not qualify for the SEC Tournament. The top four seeds receive first round byes.
UPCOMING SEC SCHEDULE (All Games May 19-21)
South Carolina at Alabama
Florida at LSU
Ole Miss at Texas A&M
Arkansas at Mississippi State
Auburn at Vanderbilt
Tennessee at Georgia
Missouri at Kentucky
