Off The Bat: Jones' Transfer A Power Injection For Gamecocks

COLUMBIA, S.C.—After South Carolina clinched a series win Saturday against Arkansas to open Southeastern Conference play, coach Chad Holbrook said he would be disappointed if his team was simply satisfied with winning the series and didn’t play with determination in the finale.

The Gamecocks delivered Sunday, coming back for an 8-6 victory to finish the sweep and remain undefeated at home. On opening weekend of SEC play, only Florida and South Carolina recorded sweeps.

As he has been all season, DH John Jones was at the heart of South Carolina’s offense. He hit a three-run home run Sunday in the eighth off Preseason All-American closer Zach Jackson to give the Gamecocks the lead. On the weekend, he went 7-for-14 with two home runs, five runs and eight RBIs.

Jones, a transfer from the State JC of Florida, is hitting .422/.515/.687 with six home runs in 22 games. The sophomore has scored 35 runs, driven in 31 and has 14 walks and 11 strikeouts.

Holbrook said Jones has brought a presence to the middle of the Gamecocks’ lineup.

“He’s got a little cockiness about him that, I’m not afraid to say it, this program’s been built on,” Holbrook said. “He brought some characteristics to our team and to our lineup that we had here in some of those runs. As good as he is as a hitter, the attitude and the confidence that he brings is infectious and made a huge difference in our locker room.”

While South Carolina (20-2) is rolling as SEC play begins, Arkansas, which came into the weekend ranked No. 17, might be going back to the drawing board. Since opening the season on a seven-game winning streak, including a perfect weekend at the Shriners Hospitals for Children College Classic, the Razorbacks are 8-6, with losses to Louisiana Tech, Eastern Illinois and Gonzaga.

At South Carolina, Arkansas’ rotation was shaky. Starters Dominic Taccolini, Barrett Loseke and Keaton McKinney combined to go 0-2, 7.98, and the Gamecocks scored first in all three games.

Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn said Saturday that he would consider moving Zack Jackson to the rotation, but that Jackson needed to show better command. Sunday, in his lone appearance of the weekend, Jackson walked five batters in 2 2/3 innings, gave up four runs and took the loss.

But the SEC season is not a sprint, as both teams know full well. On opening weekend of conference play last year, Arkansas was swept at Vanderbilt and South Carolina swept Kentucky at home. Arkansas went on to reach the College World Series, while South Carolina missed the NCAA Tournament.

“Like I told our guys, ‘You get 30 (SEC games),’” Holbrook said. “And I know this is coaches speak and clichéd crap, but we try to play 30 one-game series and that’s kind of how I look at it.”

Utah Stuns Oregon To Open Pac-12 Play

Before the season began, Utah coach Bill Kinneberg thought his team was good enough to compete in the Pacific-12 Conference. So when the Utes opened the season 4-11 going into the start of conference play, he was disappointed they had not played better.

“We had not played well in any phase in the first four weekends,” he said. “At times we pitched well, at times we swung the bat OK, but we had not put it together. We had not been in synch at all.”

This weekend at Oregon, that began to change. The Utes went on the road and twice beat the Ducks, who entered the weekend ranked No. 19. It was Utah’s first Pac-12 series victory since 2013 and its first ever against Oregon.

Utah won the series by beating Oregon at its own game—pitching. The Ducks are led by a prospect-rich rotation, but the Utes found a way to win pitchers’ duels on Friday (4-1) and Sunday (2-0) to claim the series.

On Friday, sophomore righthander Jayson Rose held Oregon to one run in 6 2/3 innings and junior lefthander Dylan Drachler followed with 2 1/3 scoreless innings for the save. Sunday, sophomore lefthander Josh Lapiana threw his first career shutout to secure the series win.

“The two pitching performances on Friday and then (Sunday) were a key,” Kinneberg said. “(Rose) really pitched like a Friday night guy does in this conference and we were able to squeak in four runs and get a good win on Friday.

“Josh Lapiana was really efficient. He threw 96 pitches in a complete game. He only struck out five, but he commanded.”

Oregon coach George Horton will be the manager of USA Baseball’s Collegiate National Team this summer, and told reporters in Eugene after Sunday’s game that Rose is one of the players in consideration for the team.

“Rose, for them, on Friday is a Team USA candidate,” Horton said. “He’s got Friday Pac-12 stuff. He was a tough challenge and we weren’t worthy of that.”

While Rose (2-2, 3.41) is the ace of the staff, Lapiana has been a solid addition for Utah this season. He began his college career at Akron before its program was disbanded in July. Kinneberg said Utah’s coaching staff took the lefthander sight unseen, and so far they have been rewarded for the gamble. With his victory Sunday, he improved to 1-3, 3.16 with a 17-to-5 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 31 1/3 innings.

Lapiana isn’t an overpowering pitcher, but he stymied Oregon with his command and changeup. He held the Ducks to three hits and one walk and didn’t allow a runner to reach second base until the ninth inning.

“When you throw a shutout on Sunday, that’s a recipe for ending the weekend on a good note,” Kinneberg said.

Not many conference weekends have ended on a good note for Utah since it joined the Pac-12 for the 2012 season. The Utes have not won more than seven conference games in a year since leaving the Mountain West Conference.

But having started conference play this year with a signature series win, Kinnenberg is hopeful the Utes can still be competitive in the conference this season, as he thought they would be going into the year.

“Hopefully this is a springboard to just play to our potential,” he said. “We have another series on the road (at Arizona State). We haven’t played at home yet—we’re all looking forward to that. All this down the road, we’ll see, but hopefully the bats come around and we play solid defense and start scoring more runs.”

Arkansas-Little Rock Comes Together

In his second season as Arkansas-Little Rock coach, Chris Curry brought in a large recruiting class, giving the team a whole new look. In all, there are 27 players new to the program between freshmen and junior college transfers.

Getting that many players to acclimate to the coaching staff’s expectations and playing together has taken time. After getting routed, 15-4, in the first game of a doubleheader Saturday at Louisiana-Lafayette, Curry told the Trojans it was time to come together.

“I kind of said as soon as we start coming together, gelling and becoming a family, we’ll play well,” he said.

Little Rock took that message to heart and jumped on ULL for three runs in the top of the first inning in the nightcap. The Trojans didn’t trail again the rest of the series, going on to win 10-5 on Saturday and 7-1 on Sunday.

ULL was the preseason Sun Belt Conference favorites and went into the series ranked No. 16. This weekend was the Ragin’ Cajuns’ first series loss, while the Trojans (8-11) won back-to-back games against a ranked opponent for the first time since 2013.

“It’s a capable team that we’ve got,” Curry said. “They have the ability.”

Little Rock has been led by senior outfielder Ryan Scott, who is now hitting .493/.568/.907 with seven home runs in 19 games. In the two wins, he went 5-for-8, homered, drove in nine runs and scored three times.

Scott didn’t do much the first two years of his Little Rock career, hitting .171 in 72 games (49 starts). But Curry said from the time he and his assistants first watched Scott, they knew he would be one of their key players.

“The first time our coaching staff saw him swing, I went up and told him ‘You’re going to be in the lineup everyday unless you break a leg or something,” Curry said.

Scott has rewarded that faith, and has been the Trojans’ centerpiece for two years. But this season, he has enough protection in the lineup that he is still getting pitched to even during his blazing hot start to the season. He is also positioning himself to be drafted in June after getting passed over last year.

Curry said Scott took the disappointment of not getting drafted personally and channeled it into getting better in the offseason.

Back for his senior year, Scott is now leading the Trojans into what looks to be a competitive Sun Belt. Little Rock started off conference play with South Alabama and will face Troy next weekend, giving it an early look at three teams expected to be among the best in the conference.

While the schedule makes for a tough start to conference play, Curry said it is also beneficial.

“We’re cutting our teeth on the upper echelon of the league,” Curry said. “That caused the maturation process to speed up.”

Eight for Omaha

Each week, I’ll update my projected College World Series field based on the latest week’s games.

Florida, Louisville, Miami, North Carolina, Oregon State, Texas A&M, Texas Christian, Vanderbilt

Though it was a wild weekend in college baseball with several Top 25 teams losing series, this remains largely static.

Louisville lost its second series to a Top 25 opponent on the road, but it was again a close series, and the overall talent the Cardinals have leads me to keep them here. Vanderbilt also dropped a home series to start SEC play, but it was a tight series and the young Commodores should continue to grow and improve as the season progresses. I did, however, replace California with North Carolina. This weekend’s series loss to Southern California was Cal’s second of the year to an unranked opponent. The Tar Heels have also played a difficult schedule, but have rolled through it and look to have the pitching to thrive in the postseason.

Eye-Catchers

Five players or programs who stood out this weekend.

Auburn hitters: Facing Texas A&M’s stout pitching staff, Auburn unloaded this weekend for 38 hits and 27 runs. It was the most runs the Tigers have scored in a SEC series since 2012.

Seth Beer, of, Clemson: The freshman was in this space last week, but he was outstanding again this weekend. Beer hit a walk-off homer Sunday against Boston College, closing out a series that saw him go 6-for-10 with two home runs, five runs and three RBIs.

Bobby Dalbec, 3b/rhp, Arizona: After going hitless in Arizona’s first two games at Washington this weekend, Dalbec broke out in a big way Sunday. He went 2-for-5 with a home run, while throwing six innings in relief to earn the victory. He’s now 4-1, 1.21 with five saves in 10 relief appearances.

Southern California: The Trojans have been looking for a statement win to get back on track since losing on opening weekend to North Dakota. They’ve been close before, but this weekend they finished it off, coming back to win a series against California. USC now will have to deal with a couple Big West foes this week, with a game Monday against Cal State Fullerton and then a weekend set with No. 24 UC Santa Barbara.

T.J. Zeuch, rhp, Pittsburgh: After missing the first four weekends of the spring due to a groin injury, Zeuch made his season debut Sunday and picked up the victory against Florida State. The 6-foot-7 junior struck out eight batters in six innings and held the Seminoles to two runs (no earned) on one hit and two walks.

Looking Ahead

Three weekend series we’re most excited for:

(9) Virginia at (8) Louisville: Having gone on the road to play Top 25 opponents Mississippi and Miami, Louisville now gets a Top 10 team at home. The Cardinals are looking for their first marquee series win of the season, while the defending national champions are looking to win their third straight series to start Atlantic Coast Conference play.

(13) Louisiana State at (2) Texas A&M: Coming off a series loss to Alabama to open SEC play, LSU now has to go on the road to Texas A&M. The Aggies are 11-0 at home this season, but have had to survive some close calls to maintain that perfect record in Blue Bell Park. The Tigers will be their toughest test yet.

(3) Oregon State at (15) California: Off to a great start this season, Oregon State will face its stiffest competition yet as it heads south to Berkeley. Cal will be looking to bounce back after falling to Southern California in its first Pac-12 series of the season. The Thursday night game features a matchup of righthanders Daulton Jefferies and Drew Rasmussen, who were teammates on last summer’s USA Baseball Collegiate National Team.

Two Weekend Series You Shouldn’t Overlook

Oklahoma at Texas Tech: Behind TCU and Oklahoma State, the Big 12 looks to be pretty open. Both Oklahoma and Texas Tech have appeared to have the potential to jump into the top tier at times this season, but haven’t put everything together yet. One could use this weekend as a springboard.

South Alabama at Texas State: While Sun Belt-favorite ULL stumbled this weekend, South Alabama and Texas State are off to 6-0 starts in conference play. The two will meet for an early-season showdown that could have a significant impact on the Sun Belt standings at the end of the year.

One Midweek Game To Keep An Eye On

Southern Mississippi vs. Tulane (Tuesday, 8 p.m. ET): Both teams are off to solid starts to the season and will looking to boost their at-large cases will meet at MGM Park in Biloxi, Miss. Tulane shortstop Stephen Alemais has been day-to-day with a left shoulder injury, but came on Sunday as a defensive replacement. The junior’s return would add some prospect juice to the matchup.