C
Collyn Taylor
Guest
--For starters, sweeping a series is always, 100 percent better than the alternative and the Gamecocks looked like the best team on the field for a span of 27 innings. They outscored their opponent 29-7, allowed just two home runs compared to hitting seven in three games and saw players pick up right where they left off and the pitching, especially the bullpen, deliver early on being a deep and versatile group. It was a good opening weekend for South Carolina but now things get tougher with a game against Winthrop and a Clemson team that also swept their weekend series against Cincinnati.
--In recapping the weekend, you have to start with Wes Clarke—the robot sent from outer space whose sole goal in life is to hit home runs—who had a monster weekend against Dayton. Clarke reached in 12 of his 15 at-bats this weekend, finishing 7-for-10 with five of his hits going for extra bases; he had three home runs in the first two games, including a 415-footer in game two. Through three games he's slashing .700/.800/1.800 with nine RBI. Everyone knew he could hit for power (and boy did he against Dayton) but one of the more impressive things was he drew five walks and didn't strikeout. The Gamecocks internally thought Clarke looked like a more mature bat entering the season and he showed why with a potentially national player of the week performance in weekend No. 1.
--The leadoff position in baseball's morphed over the last few years with coaches wanting to put hitters at the top who can get on base but also deliver some pop as well, and Brady Allen showed why the Gamecocks like him as the leadoff hitter. In three games Allen is slashing .556/.643/1.333 with a home run and seven runs scored and giving the Gamecocks that new-school mold of a leadoff hitter. He struck out twice, but the at-bats he turned in were really good: he was good about attacking hittable pitches early (four of his five hits came no deeper than four pitches into his at-bat) but he also walked four times with two of those coming on a full count. Even on the two times he's struck out, both of those came on full counts. He showed at least three games in why the Gamecocks like him in that spot.
--Thomas Farr by far set the tone pitching-wise for South Carolina, going six innings of one-run baseball with eight strikeouts and two walks. He looked the part of a Friday night arm in the SEC. His fastball was up to 97 miles per hour, touching 98, with a good breaking ball he threw for strikes. The composure he showed was good for South Carolina moving over and it will be fun to see him start on the road at Clemson Friday night. Brannon Jordan showed why he's tough to hit, giving up two in his outing, but struggled with command with four walks in four-plus innings. It looked like he tried to pound the zone low, missed a few while not getting a few calls and didn't recover from that and most of the stuff afterwards was up in the zone. Julian Bosnic looked elite through his first three innings, getting up to 93 miles per hour on his fastball with a breaking ball good enough to get SEC hitters out on a consistent basis. He didn't allow a hit and struck out nine—including a school-record eight straight—but a blister and command issues because of it took him out earlier than he would like. There was enough from Bosnic, especially from a velocity and pitchability standpoint, to see why Bosnic has a chance to be good in the SEC.
--Five freshmen made their debuts this weekend—Mag Cotto, Jackson Phipps, Jack Mahoney, Will Sanders and Travis Luensmann—and all competed well and showed SEC-level stuff. Cotto was up to 91 miles per hour on his fastball with Phipps right around there as well with Mahoney and Sanders a little above that at 93-94. The star, though, of the five was Luensmann, who came in from the bullpen in a tie game. He'd pitch a scoreless inning, getting up to 95 miles per hour on his fastball, with one strikeout. A guy who showed flashes in the spring but struggled at times with command was really good. While it's one outing and still very early, the freshmen pitchers combined to allow just one hit and didn't walk anyone, which certainly bodes well.
--Continuing on the pitching theme, the starters Saturday and Sunday combined for just 7.1 innings but the bullpen did Yeoman's work the final two games. Seven pitchers combined to throw 10.2 innings, giving up one run on four hits with a 10-to-3 strikeout-to-walk ratio. The pen had 9.2 scoreless to end its series, including not allowing a run the final five innings of the game Sunday. Daniel Lloyd and Brett Kerry looked really good pitching in a tie game with Lloyd being a big swing man with 2.2 scoreless innings after giving up the game-tying hit (run credited to Bosnic). Lloyd was up to 94 miles per hour on his fastball and threw strikes while Kerry was vintage Kerry (up to 92-93 miles per hour on his fastball with a breaking ball and cutter) and pitched two scoreless, including striking out three straight to end the game after putting two runners on base. Andrew Peters also looked dominant in two innings with a fastball up to 95 miles per hour and John Gilreath provided a nice lefty option, walking one in a scoreless inning. The bullpen looked really good and the Gamecocks hope it's a trend that continues.
--I left impressed with the Gamecocks' hitting approach over the course of the weekend. The philosophy is simple: try to do damage with fewer than two strikes and less than two outs and then change the approach down in the count or with two outs to trying to scrap and get on base. So far, so good. The Gamecocks had eight two-out RBI this weekend and hit .357 with two outs. It's early and the opposing pitching will certainly get better but the Gamecocks showed improved signs offensively in week one. It'll be interesting to see what happens against the Tigers.
--Colin Burgess is an important piece to the puzzle this season if the Gamecocks want to play well and make a deep run in a tournament, and he showed positive signs this weekend. He'd homer Saturday and walk late Sunday, eventually scoring the go-ahead run, and ended his weekend slashing .500/.538/.800 and giving the Gamecocks a threat near the bottom of the order. The biggest thing, though, was his defense. He threw out three runners, including one to end the seventh inning Sunday to preserve a tie game.
Some numbers standing out to me after three games (outside of the three wins)
--Team .130 batting average against. Despite a few walks from Jordan and Bosnic, the Gamecocks are tough to hit and have the fastball velocity to pair with good off speed stuff that kept hitters off balance through three games.
--An on base percentage of .448. The average and power should be there this season but South Carolina needs to be a team that gets on base and put pressure on the defense. So far, so good.
--Slugging percentage of .703 with 52.8 percent of hits going for extra bases. Gamecocks are going to hit for power this season, and this weekend was a good start.
--Strikeout to walk ratio of 37-to-13. Despite some walks, the Gamecocks are striking out a lot of hitters early (including 17 on Sunday). As a staff the Gamecocks are averaging 12.3 strikeouts per game.
--Hitting .367 with runners on base, .333 with runners in scoring position and .540 in advancement opportunities. The Gamecocks struggled in 2019 to drive in runs outside of hitting homers but did better this weekend. They were much more efficient over the last 24 innings and looked better with runners on base against Dayton.
--Strike percentage of 61.8.
--In recapping the weekend, you have to start with Wes Clarke—the robot sent from outer space whose sole goal in life is to hit home runs—who had a monster weekend against Dayton. Clarke reached in 12 of his 15 at-bats this weekend, finishing 7-for-10 with five of his hits going for extra bases; he had three home runs in the first two games, including a 415-footer in game two. Through three games he's slashing .700/.800/1.800 with nine RBI. Everyone knew he could hit for power (and boy did he against Dayton) but one of the more impressive things was he drew five walks and didn't strikeout. The Gamecocks internally thought Clarke looked like a more mature bat entering the season and he showed why with a potentially national player of the week performance in weekend No. 1.
--The leadoff position in baseball's morphed over the last few years with coaches wanting to put hitters at the top who can get on base but also deliver some pop as well, and Brady Allen showed why the Gamecocks like him as the leadoff hitter. In three games Allen is slashing .556/.643/1.333 with a home run and seven runs scored and giving the Gamecocks that new-school mold of a leadoff hitter. He struck out twice, but the at-bats he turned in were really good: he was good about attacking hittable pitches early (four of his five hits came no deeper than four pitches into his at-bat) but he also walked four times with two of those coming on a full count. Even on the two times he's struck out, both of those came on full counts. He showed at least three games in why the Gamecocks like him in that spot.
--Thomas Farr by far set the tone pitching-wise for South Carolina, going six innings of one-run baseball with eight strikeouts and two walks. He looked the part of a Friday night arm in the SEC. His fastball was up to 97 miles per hour, touching 98, with a good breaking ball he threw for strikes. The composure he showed was good for South Carolina moving over and it will be fun to see him start on the road at Clemson Friday night. Brannon Jordan showed why he's tough to hit, giving up two in his outing, but struggled with command with four walks in four-plus innings. It looked like he tried to pound the zone low, missed a few while not getting a few calls and didn't recover from that and most of the stuff afterwards was up in the zone. Julian Bosnic looked elite through his first three innings, getting up to 93 miles per hour on his fastball with a breaking ball good enough to get SEC hitters out on a consistent basis. He didn't allow a hit and struck out nine—including a school-record eight straight—but a blister and command issues because of it took him out earlier than he would like. There was enough from Bosnic, especially from a velocity and pitchability standpoint, to see why Bosnic has a chance to be good in the SEC.
--Five freshmen made their debuts this weekend—Mag Cotto, Jackson Phipps, Jack Mahoney, Will Sanders and Travis Luensmann—and all competed well and showed SEC-level stuff. Cotto was up to 91 miles per hour on his fastball with Phipps right around there as well with Mahoney and Sanders a little above that at 93-94. The star, though, of the five was Luensmann, who came in from the bullpen in a tie game. He'd pitch a scoreless inning, getting up to 95 miles per hour on his fastball, with one strikeout. A guy who showed flashes in the spring but struggled at times with command was really good. While it's one outing and still very early, the freshmen pitchers combined to allow just one hit and didn't walk anyone, which certainly bodes well.
--Continuing on the pitching theme, the starters Saturday and Sunday combined for just 7.1 innings but the bullpen did Yeoman's work the final two games. Seven pitchers combined to throw 10.2 innings, giving up one run on four hits with a 10-to-3 strikeout-to-walk ratio. The pen had 9.2 scoreless to end its series, including not allowing a run the final five innings of the game Sunday. Daniel Lloyd and Brett Kerry looked really good pitching in a tie game with Lloyd being a big swing man with 2.2 scoreless innings after giving up the game-tying hit (run credited to Bosnic). Lloyd was up to 94 miles per hour on his fastball and threw strikes while Kerry was vintage Kerry (up to 92-93 miles per hour on his fastball with a breaking ball and cutter) and pitched two scoreless, including striking out three straight to end the game after putting two runners on base. Andrew Peters also looked dominant in two innings with a fastball up to 95 miles per hour and John Gilreath provided a nice lefty option, walking one in a scoreless inning. The bullpen looked really good and the Gamecocks hope it's a trend that continues.
--I left impressed with the Gamecocks' hitting approach over the course of the weekend. The philosophy is simple: try to do damage with fewer than two strikes and less than two outs and then change the approach down in the count or with two outs to trying to scrap and get on base. So far, so good. The Gamecocks had eight two-out RBI this weekend and hit .357 with two outs. It's early and the opposing pitching will certainly get better but the Gamecocks showed improved signs offensively in week one. It'll be interesting to see what happens against the Tigers.
--Colin Burgess is an important piece to the puzzle this season if the Gamecocks want to play well and make a deep run in a tournament, and he showed positive signs this weekend. He'd homer Saturday and walk late Sunday, eventually scoring the go-ahead run, and ended his weekend slashing .500/.538/.800 and giving the Gamecocks a threat near the bottom of the order. The biggest thing, though, was his defense. He threw out three runners, including one to end the seventh inning Sunday to preserve a tie game.
Some numbers standing out to me after three games (outside of the three wins)
--Team .130 batting average against. Despite a few walks from Jordan and Bosnic, the Gamecocks are tough to hit and have the fastball velocity to pair with good off speed stuff that kept hitters off balance through three games.
--An on base percentage of .448. The average and power should be there this season but South Carolina needs to be a team that gets on base and put pressure on the defense. So far, so good.
--Slugging percentage of .703 with 52.8 percent of hits going for extra bases. Gamecocks are going to hit for power this season, and this weekend was a good start.
--Strikeout to walk ratio of 37-to-13. Despite some walks, the Gamecocks are striking out a lot of hitters early (including 17 on Sunday). As a staff the Gamecocks are averaging 12.3 strikeouts per game.
--Hitting .367 with runners on base, .333 with runners in scoring position and .540 in advancement opportunities. The Gamecocks struggled in 2019 to drive in runs outside of hitting homers but did better this weekend. They were much more efficient over the last 24 innings and looked better with runners on base against Dayton.
--Strike percentage of 61.8.
