LSU usually has a really good team. Apparently LSU and USC don't play each other again this year... I thought that rotated every year, but I guess its every two years. USC beat Santa Clara 2-1 today, solid pitching from Tyler Webb, who threw 6 good innings in his start. Bryan Harper, the brother of Nationals draft selection Bryce Harper, had a solid relief effort before Matt Price came in to close the door. I love having a good closer
SEC teams play 30 conference games every year - 10 weekend series. Naturally, there being 12 teams in the SEC, that means there's always one SEC team you don't see each season. It changes from year to year, but I guess its a two year rotation (home/away?) rather than a one year rotation. Pretty sure the one team that gets missed is always in the opposite division, too.
Though I didn't get to watch/listen, USC completed the opening weekend sweep with a 6-0 victory on Sunday, backed by a solid start from Adam Westmoreland, a talented redshirt sophomore who missed last season due to injury. He's a big guy - 6'5", 270 pounds... and they keep talking about how he's actually dropped 30 pounds since his freshman season and is in better shape now. Freshman Forrest Koumas threw two scoreless innings to end the game, which was nice. I'm really hoping he does well, especially since I actually know his mother I also noticed that Michael Roth, our Friday starter, was in the lineup at DH on Sunday, going 1-3. There was talk about him DHing early in the offseason, though that seemed to die down as the season got closer. Still not a big surprise, though. Oh, and all three baseball games this weekend were better attended than the basketball game last night
Some different teams high in the rankings this year. Oregon,UCONN,TCU,College of Charleston. Should be an interesting season
Quick game this afternoon at Carolina Stadium... only about an hour and 50 minutes for USC to shut out Southern Illinois 4-0. Solid start for Tyler Webb, 7.1 scoreless innings, plus excellent relief appearances from Bryan Harper and John Taylor (Taylor struck out the side in the ninth). Carolina also won 10-6 yesterday after the Southern Illinois starter gave up 9 runs in 1+ innings.. actually got close late (bases loaded in the top of the ninth) but Price closed the door. I'm hoping to make the game tomorrow afternoon, but we'll see.
Got to go to the game this afternoon... and had the best seats I've ever had at a baseball game. 2nd row up from the field, almost directly behind home plate. Had a bunch of pro scouts (definitely some from the Blue Jays, not sure exactly who else) right behind us. They gave particular attention to the freshman pitcher Forest Koumas, which was kinda surprising given that he's only a freshman and can't be drafted (again) for two more years... though he was drafted last year, so the attention isn't all that surprising, either. Anyway, it was a nice 9-4 win to improve to 6-0 on the season.
Gamecocks move to 7-0 on the season with a 14-1 win over Furman tonight, backed by a 9 run 6th inning. Steven Neff had a solid (pre-determined short) start, going 4 scoreless innings and picked up the win. Forrest Koumas pitched another perfect inning, meaning he's thrown 4 innings this season so far, without giving up a hit. Big series this weekend, though, against Clemson. Friday night is here in Columbia, and I'm hoping to go. Very interesting matchup with Michael Roth on the mound... after his start in Omaha, Clemson will be looking for some measure of revenge. They have a good enough lineup that they might get it, but don't count Roth out, either. Saturday is in Greenville (Flour Field), and Sunday at Clemson. Are you going to be there, rech?
Revenge against Michael Roth? Not quite. Roth threw 7 solid innings, giving up 3 early unearned runs (hurt by Peter Mooney's error) and the bullpen (mostly Matt Price) closed the door, and three 2-run homers (Brady Thomas, Christian Walker, and Scott Wingo) were enough for the 6-3 Gamecock win. I made it to the game, which was packed, though just in the standing room only area behind the RF fence. Still very glad I went, though. Another bad memory storyline for tomorrow's game, as Tyler Webb was the USC starter on Sunday in Columbia last year when Clemson rocked Carolina's pitching staff for 19 runs. Webb's been dominant in his first two starts this year, but Clemson still has a very dangerous lineup.
Saturday's game was postponed until yesterday due to the weather. Clemson won the Sunday game 10-5 after getting to USC closer Matt Price... by far the worst outing I've ever seen Price have in his young career. He can still bounce back from it easily enough, though. But Carolina won the series against Clemson last night in a well-fought 5-4 game in Greenville. Most of the talk, though, is less about the games than about the surrounding events. After Jackie Bradley Jr hit an early solo home run Sunday, Clemson coach Jack Leggett came out and had the umpires inspect the bat... which they did, and found no problems with it. Now, he has every right to do that... but when the umpires say the bat is fine and Leggett refused to comment on why he asked for the inspection (either to the media or to the USC coaching staff)... it really comes across as "You hit a home run against us, therefore you must be cheating" attitude, which is pretty sad. From what little the umpires said to Bradley, Leggett's complaint was based on the bat supposedly being hot, but Leggett has refused to confirm or deny such, let alone explain why he thought the inspection was necessary. Throw in one of Clemson's players calling a USC pitcher a "soft kid" on Twitter and it really ticked off the USC team. Ray Tanner was about as upset as I've ever seen him in his postgame press conference, talking about how its a great on-the-field baseball rivalry and that's where it should start and where it should end.
OSU beats VCU three straight. At least they can still win. However, wish my college had a baseball team. Oh well.
I should check to see how my alma mater's team is doing. We're DIII, but they were usually really competitive in the conference. I still know some people on the team.
I got to catch part of a Tech game (finally!) today. I had to leave early, but we were beating Georgia Southern 11-1 in the 4th.
Gamecocks open SEC play this weekend hosting Georgia. I'd go... except for a little thing known as the NCAA basketball tournament
That would be nice. Speaking of the Gamecocks, they're up 8-2 right now on Wofford. Dropped a disappointing game 4-2 yesterday to Furman, though. Couldn't get the bats going.
Won 2 out of 3 against Georgia. Sure, its a series win, but it was a series where a sweep would have been much nicer, given Georgia's struggles. Florida this weekend, in Gainesville I believe... and that's gonna be a much tougher series. Last night was an example of when I'm sure College of Charleston wouldn't have minded having a mercy rule in effect. Gamecocks batted around in the second, scoring 7 runs... and proceeded to do it again the very next inning with 8 more runs. 15-0 after three innings... and it only got more lopsided from there. 24-4 final score, with Adam Matthews driving in 8 runs from the leadoff spot. Nice to see him get going, I just hope he can keep it up against SEC teams. Amusingly, Patrick Sullivan recorded his first save of the season in that game... obviously of the 3-inning variety
How did I not comment on South Carolina taking two out three from Florida, despite two starters making their first collegiate starts? Huh. Bryan Harper's Sunday start didn't go well (3 runs, 2 innings) but freshman Forrest Koumas threw 6 innings and gave up only an unearned run, against an exceptionally good offensive team. He's clearly earned the right to get another shot at starting, but it'll probably be Sunday this week, if at all, because he spent 3 days in the hospital after having an allergic reaction to peanuts. Sounds like he could have left the hospital earlier but the team doctors wanted to be extra cautious. I'll be at the game on Sunday (vs Kentucky this weekend), and hopefully he'll be starting.
Tech is ranked #10 by ESPN, and is 21-5, 9-0. We start a series with Duke tonight. I hope we destroy them. Edit: That was pretty mean, sorry. Just some frustrations from basketball season carrying over.
USC has a weird Thurs-Sat series this weekend at Tennessee... I think because ESPN (well, ESPNU) wanted to televise a game on Thursday night. Gamecocks won 4-0 on Thursday behind great pitching from Michael Roth and Matt Price... and then 2-0 last night behind a stellar outing from Colby Holmes, with solid relief pitching from John Taylor and Matt Price. Forrest Koumas gets his third start today after allowing no earned runs in 12.1 innings against Florida and Kentucky. Would love to see him keep that going
Another (#)1 bites the dust! Having already taken two out of three at then-#1 Florida, South Carolina played host this weekend to #1 Vandy... and took two out of three again. Stellar pitching as usual from Michael Roth on Friday helped the Gamecocks to a 3-1 win in the series opener, with Matt Price striking out all 4 batters he faced to record his 11th save of the season. Tough 6-4 loss yesterday, but a 5-3 win today gives USC another series win. Solid 5.1 innings from Forrest Koumas, though he did give up three solo HRs (his first of the season), plus three stellar innings out of the pen from Matt Price, who actually got the win. Surprise at DH in the lineup, though, as LHP Steven Neff got the start at DH with Jake Williams and Adam Matthews unavailable (Neff pinch hit yesterday for his only previous plate appearance)... and Neff actually got the four run rally in the bottom of the seventh started with a nice double. Freshman C Greg Brodzinski pinch hit and got an RBI the painful way (hit by pitch with the bases loaded) and Jackie Bradley Jr hit a bloop single into center to tie the game (the radio call was "lifter into center... that's going to be ... a FAIR BALL!" ) Since Steven Neff had to move from DH to outfield after that inning, Matt Price actually got to bat in the bottom of the eighth... pretty sure that was his first plate appearance since high school Great weather, and a great day at the park... though I forgot the sunscreen again and am definitely a bit sunburned... again.
