C
Collyn Taylor
Guest
--For starters, any time you lose a series it's not ideal for a team (teams always want to win a series) but the goal, like Brett Kerry said postgame, is to not get swept on the road and the Gamecocks didn't. South Carolina will face plenty of great pitching this season but nothing quite like a one-two punch that is Kumar Rocker and Jack Leiter. The offense was very much out of sync on Saturday but put together decent at-bats against Rocker (we'll touch on that soon) and looked better the final five innings against Vanderbilt Sunday. Going into the weekend, I thought the Gamecocks would be in a good spot if they could go in and take at least one game from Vanderbilt and they did that, doing it in dramatic fashion Sunday. Mark Kingston getting tossed in a close game certainly changed the game Sunday and the Gamecocks took the lead in the following inning. It wasn't a great weekend for South Carolina from a results standpoint, obviously, but the team got a win out of the weekend and has a chance to go .500 in the SEC with a series win over Florida.
--We'll get to the offense in a second (both the good and the bad), but I wanted to start with Brett Kerry, who was fantastic Sunday for 5.2 innings where he notched 10 strikeouts (the most he's racked up against a SEC team) and allowed three hits. He'd give up a hit to his first batter before retiring 10 straight. Of the two final hits he allowed, neither left the infield and he didn't walk anyone with 54 of his 75 pitches going for strikes. Kerry doesn't have necessarily blow-you-away stuff with a fastball operating in the low-90s and a good cutter/slider combination but he locates so well and gets a lot of swings and misses. Kerry's always been a gamer since the start of his freshman spring and showed it Sunday. South Carolina doesn't win the game without him Sunday. Kerry brings a level of moxie to the pitching staff, more so than most other guys and just finds a way to get outs. There's a very, very strong case to make him the Sunday starter this week heading into Florida after back-to-back rougher outings for Julian Bosnic. Moving Kerry into a starter role would give the Gamecocks a pitcher who is able to go deep into games efficiently and moves the team's best lefty to the bullpen for another good option on the back end.
--The Gamecocks had a very bad day Saturday with Jack Leiter dominating hitters with essentially just a fastball and them looking lost against a good fastball at 94-97 miles per hour, which is certainly concerning to a degree. They struggled to catch up to it and chased a lot of pitches to the tune of 16 strikeouts and getting no-hit. Outside of that day, which was really bad, the Gamecocks' offensive approach wasn't terrible. They were really the only team to get to Rocker, who gave up his first earned runs of the season against the Gamecocks. Getting three hits and striking out 16 times is never a great night, but Rocker is easily the best pitcher in the country and the likely top overall pick in the draft come July. Gamecock hitters looked a lot better Sunday, especially hitting for power, but attacking early in counts and having good results. The biggest concern is the strikeouts with 43 on the weekend (33 coming the first two days) but Vanderbilt struck out 42 times with two less innings over the course of the series. The Gamecocks just can't strike out as much, which is something that will certainly be worked on this week and moving forward.
--Two of the Gamecocks' three starters were fantastic over the weekend with Thomas Farr going almost pitch for pitch with Rocker until the end, allowing three runs on four hits and striking out nine in six innings. All three of his pitches were working really well and he just gives the Gamecocks a competitive presence on the mound to start series. Jordan looked really good too, giving up two runs in five innings and striking out nine to just three hits and three walks. His issue this season has been allowing extra base hits, and that problem came up again against Vanderbilt. The only runs he gave up came on a two-run home run and he gave up only one other hit. Jordan has to continue throwing more strikes (he threw fewer than 60 percent strikes) and not allowing opponents to hit for power but five innings and two runs will get the job done most Saturdays. He just hasn't had much offensive support the last two weekends. Bosnic didn't look great in Sunday's outing. The good news is he threw over 63 percent strikes, but when he did get the ball in the zone Vanderbilt took advantage. He needs to be more efficient with his pitches with 79 pitches in 3.1 innings isn't good enough but still showed some strikeout potential with six of his 10 outs coming via the punch out.
--The offensive struggles are happening because a lot of hitters are cooling off at the same time, especially in the middle of the Gamecock order. South Carolina shuffled things around some this weekend with Josiah Sightler and Wes Clarke flipping in the lineup but the same hitters No. 3 through No. 6 were the same with just some different orders. Sighter, Clarke, David Mendham and Andrew Eyster combined to go 4-for-39 with four RBI, three walks and 20 strikeouts this weekend. There were good at-bats, including Sightler's RBI double Friday night and Clarke's sac fly Sunday but the Gamecocks can't have four hitters in the heart of their order striking out 20 times in three games if the offense wants to operate efficiently.
--South Carolina's bullpen continues to pitch well, giving up just three earned runs in 10.2 innings this weekend and giving up nine hits and three walks to 18 strikeouts. Of the six pitchers who threw, only one gave up runs (Parker Coyne) and allowed two of their six inherited runners to score. Kerry was fantastic and Danny Lloyd turned in one of his better innings of the season. Andy Peters came in during a tight situation Friday night and gave up the game-winning run (charged to Farr) but struck out four in 1.1 innings with 17 strikes in 26 pitches. The only issue with the bullpen was allowing inherited runners to score but in total was a good weekend for the Gamecocks' bullpen.
--We mentioned the middle of the order but the Gamecocks' top of the order was good for two games this weekend with Brady Allen confirming he's the team's best leadoff hitter. The top two in the order stayed the same all weekend in Allen and Braylen Wimmer (who hit leadoff Friday and Saturday). The two combined to go 7-for-24 (.292) this weekend with three runs scored, two RBI and a walk with nine strikeouts. Wimmer was also the only Gamecock to reach base Saturday. The two were 6-for-10 with two homers and a double and three RBI Sunday in the win. Allen, his first game as leadoff hitter on the weekend, kickstarted the offense with a homer in the fourth to break up a perfect game and then set the stage for the comeback in the eighth with a double. He definitely looked like a leadoff hitter this weekend. Wimmer looked good as well both offensively and defensively with a home run and a couple well-executed bunts for hits with a handful of good defensive plays at second. It wasn't a perfect weekend for either but both showed a lot of reasons why the coaching staff is high on them.
--South Carolina, after hitting for power through 11 games, did it some this weekend but not at the same level they were early in the season. The Gamecocks did hit four extra base hits over the weekend but found ways to score without extra base hits. The Gamecocks were able to attack early in the count with four of their six at-bats that scored runs Sunday lasting two or fewer pitches and only two (both home runs) went for extra bases. The Gamecocks were able to put pressure on Vanderbilt Sunday with walks and bunts and scraped across enough runs to win. When the Gamecocks were able to get on base, good things happened and they found a way to win without hitting for power. That might be a way to score and win games in the SEC when the ball isn't going over the fence consistently.
--We'll get to the offense in a second (both the good and the bad), but I wanted to start with Brett Kerry, who was fantastic Sunday for 5.2 innings where he notched 10 strikeouts (the most he's racked up against a SEC team) and allowed three hits. He'd give up a hit to his first batter before retiring 10 straight. Of the two final hits he allowed, neither left the infield and he didn't walk anyone with 54 of his 75 pitches going for strikes. Kerry doesn't have necessarily blow-you-away stuff with a fastball operating in the low-90s and a good cutter/slider combination but he locates so well and gets a lot of swings and misses. Kerry's always been a gamer since the start of his freshman spring and showed it Sunday. South Carolina doesn't win the game without him Sunday. Kerry brings a level of moxie to the pitching staff, more so than most other guys and just finds a way to get outs. There's a very, very strong case to make him the Sunday starter this week heading into Florida after back-to-back rougher outings for Julian Bosnic. Moving Kerry into a starter role would give the Gamecocks a pitcher who is able to go deep into games efficiently and moves the team's best lefty to the bullpen for another good option on the back end.
--The Gamecocks had a very bad day Saturday with Jack Leiter dominating hitters with essentially just a fastball and them looking lost against a good fastball at 94-97 miles per hour, which is certainly concerning to a degree. They struggled to catch up to it and chased a lot of pitches to the tune of 16 strikeouts and getting no-hit. Outside of that day, which was really bad, the Gamecocks' offensive approach wasn't terrible. They were really the only team to get to Rocker, who gave up his first earned runs of the season against the Gamecocks. Getting three hits and striking out 16 times is never a great night, but Rocker is easily the best pitcher in the country and the likely top overall pick in the draft come July. Gamecock hitters looked a lot better Sunday, especially hitting for power, but attacking early in counts and having good results. The biggest concern is the strikeouts with 43 on the weekend (33 coming the first two days) but Vanderbilt struck out 42 times with two less innings over the course of the series. The Gamecocks just can't strike out as much, which is something that will certainly be worked on this week and moving forward.
--Two of the Gamecocks' three starters were fantastic over the weekend with Thomas Farr going almost pitch for pitch with Rocker until the end, allowing three runs on four hits and striking out nine in six innings. All three of his pitches were working really well and he just gives the Gamecocks a competitive presence on the mound to start series. Jordan looked really good too, giving up two runs in five innings and striking out nine to just three hits and three walks. His issue this season has been allowing extra base hits, and that problem came up again against Vanderbilt. The only runs he gave up came on a two-run home run and he gave up only one other hit. Jordan has to continue throwing more strikes (he threw fewer than 60 percent strikes) and not allowing opponents to hit for power but five innings and two runs will get the job done most Saturdays. He just hasn't had much offensive support the last two weekends. Bosnic didn't look great in Sunday's outing. The good news is he threw over 63 percent strikes, but when he did get the ball in the zone Vanderbilt took advantage. He needs to be more efficient with his pitches with 79 pitches in 3.1 innings isn't good enough but still showed some strikeout potential with six of his 10 outs coming via the punch out.
--The offensive struggles are happening because a lot of hitters are cooling off at the same time, especially in the middle of the Gamecock order. South Carolina shuffled things around some this weekend with Josiah Sightler and Wes Clarke flipping in the lineup but the same hitters No. 3 through No. 6 were the same with just some different orders. Sighter, Clarke, David Mendham and Andrew Eyster combined to go 4-for-39 with four RBI, three walks and 20 strikeouts this weekend. There were good at-bats, including Sightler's RBI double Friday night and Clarke's sac fly Sunday but the Gamecocks can't have four hitters in the heart of their order striking out 20 times in three games if the offense wants to operate efficiently.
--South Carolina's bullpen continues to pitch well, giving up just three earned runs in 10.2 innings this weekend and giving up nine hits and three walks to 18 strikeouts. Of the six pitchers who threw, only one gave up runs (Parker Coyne) and allowed two of their six inherited runners to score. Kerry was fantastic and Danny Lloyd turned in one of his better innings of the season. Andy Peters came in during a tight situation Friday night and gave up the game-winning run (charged to Farr) but struck out four in 1.1 innings with 17 strikes in 26 pitches. The only issue with the bullpen was allowing inherited runners to score but in total was a good weekend for the Gamecocks' bullpen.
--We mentioned the middle of the order but the Gamecocks' top of the order was good for two games this weekend with Brady Allen confirming he's the team's best leadoff hitter. The top two in the order stayed the same all weekend in Allen and Braylen Wimmer (who hit leadoff Friday and Saturday). The two combined to go 7-for-24 (.292) this weekend with three runs scored, two RBI and a walk with nine strikeouts. Wimmer was also the only Gamecock to reach base Saturday. The two were 6-for-10 with two homers and a double and three RBI Sunday in the win. Allen, his first game as leadoff hitter on the weekend, kickstarted the offense with a homer in the fourth to break up a perfect game and then set the stage for the comeback in the eighth with a double. He definitely looked like a leadoff hitter this weekend. Wimmer looked good as well both offensively and defensively with a home run and a couple well-executed bunts for hits with a handful of good defensive plays at second. It wasn't a perfect weekend for either but both showed a lot of reasons why the coaching staff is high on them.
--South Carolina, after hitting for power through 11 games, did it some this weekend but not at the same level they were early in the season. The Gamecocks did hit four extra base hits over the weekend but found ways to score without extra base hits. The Gamecocks were able to attack early in the count with four of their six at-bats that scored runs Sunday lasting two or fewer pitches and only two (both home runs) went for extra bases. The Gamecocks were able to put pressure on Vanderbilt Sunday with walks and bunts and scraped across enough runs to win. When the Gamecocks were able to get on base, good things happened and they found a way to win without hitting for power. That might be a way to score and win games in the SEC when the ball isn't going over the fence consistently.
