Gamecocks Baseball Field Report: Tennessee Edition

South Carolina traveled to Knoxville to take on the Volunteers.  Behind sensational pitching the Gamecocks swept the series by scores of 4-0, 2-0 and 2-1.

Breaking it Down…On Thursday night, Michael Roth took the mound in front of a national television audience.  Tennessee countered with Rob Catapano.  The pitchers controlled the game with few exceptions.  There wasn’t any scoring until the fourth inning.  Jackie Bradley led off with a single.  Christian Walker then doubled him in.  After Adrian Morales moved Walker over with a deep fly ball, Robert Beary scored him on a fielder’s choice.  The Volunteers threatened in the bottom of the fifth when they led off with a double.  It looked like they were going to score when the next batter lined one into the gap, but Evan Marzilli made a great catch and doubled the runner off at second.  The next inning, Marzilli hit a solo home run to extend the lead to 3-0.  In the seventh Morales singled in Bradley to make the score 4-0.  All the while Roth kept shutting down the Vols.  With two outs in the eighth, Matt Price came in for the save.  He retired 4 of the 5 batters he faced to end the game.

On Friday Colby Holmes announced his intention to remain a weekend starter.  Holmes gave up a hit in the first, second and sixth innings.  Other than that, he didn’t allow any hits or runs.  He pitched into the eighth before giving way to John Taylor.  Taylor and later Price were just as good.  They needed to be because South Carolina’s offense wasn’t as potent.  The Gamecocks managed only two runs.  In the sixth Peter Mooney singled, and Christian Walker hit a two run home run.  Those two runs held up, and South Carolina took the series.

For the second week in a row the Gamecocks entered the final game of a three game series looking to sweep.  South Carolina lost its series shut out bid in the first inning when Tennessee finally scored one.  It looked like that one run might hold up while USC had trouble breaking through.  Like the first two days, the sixth inning was again kind to Carolina’s bats/  Robert Beary and Peter Mooney led off with back to back singles.  Wingo loaded the bases with a bunt single.  Bradley then hit a sac fly toss score one, and Christian Walker singled to score Mooney.  A double play then ended the inning.  Tennessee nearly had a two out rally in the eighth when they loaded the bases against John Taylor and Matt Price, but Price induced a ground ball to end the threat.  Price finished off the Vols in the ninth for his third save in three days.

Stars of the Series…Michael Roth…W, 7.2 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 6 H, 4 K, 1 BB…Colby Holmes…W, 7 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 3 H, 7 K, 2 HBP…Forrest Koumas…W, 7.1 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 7 K, 2 BB, 2 HBP…Matt Price…3 S, 3 IP, 3 H, 4 K, 2 BB…John Taylor…2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 K, 1 BB…Scott Wingo…6-10 SB…Christian Walker…3-12 HR, 2B, 4 RBI…

What to Take From the Weekend…First, there is the good.  A sweep on the road in conference is great.  The pitching was amazing.  Every pitcher who threw this weekend is one of our Stars of the Series.  The team ERA for the weekend was 0.33.  Those are outstanding numbers for any rotation, but they are even more impressive if you consider the injuries to Steven Neff and Tyler Webb.

Second, you have to wonder about the offense.  The Gamecocks aren’t scoring as many runs as they were earlier this season or last year.  They do seem to score runs when they need to, but it’s difficult to tell if they will be able to do that consistently, like they did in Omaha last year, or if they will continue to have rather modest totals if the pitching falters.  We’ll see what they do against Vanderbilt, and then we should know something one way or another.

This and That…South Carolina improves to 26-5 overall and 10-2 in conference…Tennessee falls to 19-13 and 2-10…The Gamecocks have now won 9 in a row and 14 out of 15…South Carolina is ahead of last season’s pace.  At this time last year the Gamecocks were 9-3 in conference and 25-7 overall….The team ERA for the weekend was 0.33…The Gamecocks left 22 on base to Tennessee’s 16…USC turned 6 double plays to Tennessee’s

Up Next…The Gamecocks travel to Charleston to play The Citadel on Tuesday at 7 before returning to Columbia for a crucial series against Vanderbilt.  The Commodores series will be a traditional Friday through Sunday affair with start times of 7 on Friday and Saturday and a 1 pm first pitch on Sunday.  Saturday’s game will be on CSS; Sunday’s on ESPN2.