Columbia Regional: The Morning After

The College Baseball Regional in Columbia is over, and now we wait to see what is next.  Coast Carolina will square off in the final game of the Myrtle Beach Regional today at 1:00 pm against C of C.  This game will determine if Carolina is playing next weekend in Columbia or Myrtle Beach.  I attended most of the games this past weekend in Columbia, and will give you an overview of my thoughts of the regional, players and teams….

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MVP: Adrian Moralas might have been voted MVP of the Columbia Regional after going 7-14 with 3 HR’s and 7 RBI’s, but lets not forget the effort given by freshman outfielder Evan Marzilli.  After just starting 8 games this season, he started 2 games in the regional, and went 6-10 with 1 HR, 2 doubles and 6 RBI’s.  

Lets also not forget the bullpen.  Since USC’s offense only showed up after the 6th inning in every game of the regional, we had to rely on the bullpen to keep the other team from coming back.  Michael Roth, Jose Mata and Matt Price all showed why USC’s overall team ERA is 3.2 and best in the SEC.

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A night to remember: The match up on Saturday night between The Citadel and Carolina, wasn’t the first time these two teams have squared off this season.  It was however the first time both teams used their pitching aces against each other.  The match up of Cooper vs. Wojo turned out to be a great one.  Carolina did get to Wojo late, but for a kid predicted to go in the first round of the MLB draft today, he gave Carolina all they could handle for the first 6 innings.   Cooper did what he had to do, as he has all season.  Cooper is probably one of the most underrated pitchers in the SEC, and maybe the country.  You would think going 11-1 and having the top ERA in the SEC, might get you some national attention as the NCAA tournament started.  Crickets……..

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Fans at Carolina Stadium: As most of us now, Carolina fans support Gamecock athletics like no other.  33,964 total attendance this weekend at Carolina stadium, averaging 5,660 per game with an average temperature outside of 88 degree’s.  And lets also not forget the 204 minutes worth of rain delay’s this past weekend.  Congrats to the fans of all 4 teams for coming out, there were plenty of Bucknell fans in attendance on Friday night, as well as VT fans all weekend.

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Looking ahead: No matter who it is – C of C or Coastal – you have to be confident that the Gamecocks have a great chance of making it to Omaha given their recent outings.  Pitching, timely hitting and fielding all seem to be stronger for Carolina right now.  Granted the Gamecocks have hit a few slumps along the way, but this team has a mixture of young talent and veteran leadership to take them all the way.

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Monday June 7, 2010:  Between the draft and the deciding game of 8 regionals still left to be played.  Stay tuned to LOHD as we will be updating throughout the day on Gamecock information.