Off The Bat: Weekend Battle Preps Gators, Gamecocks For Tournament
COLUMBIA, S.C.—Rain and lightning Sunday prevented No. 1 Florida and No. 6 South Carolina from finishing their series, leaving the Southeastern Conference heavyweight title fight tied at one win apiece.
Florida won Friday’s opener, 5-4, with a ninth-inning comeback against closer Josh Reagan. South Carolina took the second game, 2-1, and Sunday’s rubber game was scoreless in the fourth inning when play was halted due to lightning in the area. For 21 innings, very little separation could be found between the teams, as they put on a show with the feel of a super regional.
Florida (37-7) had been in these types of games before this season, having already played weekend series against Texas A&M, Mississippi State and Miami, the Nos. 2, 3 and 4 teams in the country, as well as three midweek games against No. 5 Florida State. While South Carolina (34-9) has been tested this season, particularly in trips to Mississippi and Vanderbilt, facing Florida was an even bigger challenge.
Coach Chad Holbrook said the Gators are the most talented team in the country, and was pleased with how well his team played against them.
“They’re at the top of this peak here for college baseball this year,” Holbrook said. “They’re a terrific team. If you measure yourself against the best, I feel good about how our team competed against them. But we should compete well against them at home. We have some pretty good players, too.”
Both teams are built around strong pitching staffs, and both showed their talent on the mound over the course of the weekend. Florida’s staff leads the SEC in nearly every meaningful pitching statistic, including strikeouts (470), ERA (2.83) and opponent’s batting average (.221). Righthander Logan Shore was not at his best Friday, but kept the Gators in the game. Saturday, in front of a bevy of scouts, lefthander A.J. Puk looked like a first-overall draft pick. He ran his fastball up to 99 mph and mixed in solid offspeed offerings for six innings before a cramp in his hand ended his night.
Since missing a start due to back spasms, Puk has been back to his dominating ways. In three starts since the injury, he has struck out 29 batters in 17 2/3 innings and held opponents to four runs on 12 hits and seven walks.
“I think that’s three outings in a row, I’d say yeah,” O’Sullivan said when asked if Puk was all the way back. “His stuff’s so good that he kind of gets himself in trouble and gets himself out of trouble. Just a hard guy to square up.”
South Carolina’s staff is less heralded, but also showed it has premium talent. Starters Clarke Schmidt, Braden Webb and Adam Hill all pitched well, and righthander Tyler Johnson came out of the bullpen to get some critical outs.
O’Sullivan said he thinks the biggest difference between this year’s South Carolina team, which is in the mix for a national seed in the NCAA Tournament, and last year’s, which missed regionals completely, is its rotation.
“Probably the biggest thing is their starting pitching is good,” O’Sullivan said. “Schmidt’s good, Webb’s good and Hill’s been throwing the ball good, and they’ve got a guy at the end they like. It really goes back to pitching. I think the starting pitching has probably been better this year.”
With the series split, the Gamecocks remain a game in front of the Gators in the SEC East standings with three series to play. Both teams face difficult finishes, as Florida travels to Tennessee, hosts Vanderbilt and ends the season at Louisiana State. South Carolina visits Kentucky, hosts Texas A&M and ends at Alabama.
The small difference in the standings made Sunday’s rainout even more disappointing. But both teams have more than an SEC East Division title on their minds. And should they play as deep into the season as they hope to, this weekend’s series will likely have helped prepare them for the rigors of the postseason.
“We’re going to be in some pressure-cookers going forward,” Holbrook said. “Some of these games, our season might be on the line. That was certainly a good test for us. Once that moment comes, we’ve been in that moment, we’ve been in the frying pan, so to speak, against the best team in the country. I think we reacted in the right way.”
Texas Tech Takes Control
Texas Tech travelled to Texas Christian this weekend for a showdown between the top two teams in the Big 12 Conference with first place in the league on the line. While Texas Tech coach Tim Tadlock knew what was at stake in Fort Worth this weekend, he wasn’t going to allow it to overwhelm him or his team.
“We’re not in the position we’re in because we’re talking about that stuff,” Tadlock said before the weekend.
Texas Tech (34-13) won Sunday’s finale, 3-1, to claim the series and solidify its place atop the Big 12 standings. With the victory, the Red Raiders are positioned to win their first Big 12 Conference regular season title since 1997 and just their third ever regular-season conference championship. They also appear to be in the driver’s seat to grab a national seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Texas Tech won Friday’s opener, 7-4, before TCU (30-12) evened the series with a 13-6 victory Saturday. The Red Raiders bounced back to win a tense game Sunday that went down to the final out.
“We’re just glad to play good baseball,” Tadlock said. “Really, going into the weekend that’s what we were trying to do. We pretty much did that on Friday, obviously it was a little bit of a letdown Saturday.
“TCU played really good (Sunday). They squared some balls up and pitched well. It’s a tough league, it’s tough to win, so it’s good to come out on the right side of it.”
Texas Tech got out to an early lead Sunday, scoring twice in the third, and held a 3-1 advantage going into the ninth. But TCU wouldn’t go down without a fight. The Horned Frogs battled back from being down to their final strike several times, forcing Tadlock to use three pitchers in the inning, as he and TCU coach Jim Schlossnagle engaged in a late-game chess match as they tried to gain the advantage in every matchup.
Finally, with the tying run on second base, Parker Mushinski got pinch hitter Michael Landestoy to fly out to end the game.
“It’s not every day you use three guys in the ninth to close the game,” Tadlock said. “It was one of those deals where, like I said, it was good to come out on right side of it. Landestoy hit the ball hard enough to get it out to the right fielder. It was a neat game.”
Most teams in the Big 12, including all the contenders, are down to just six conference games left. No. 8 Texas Tech holds a two-game lead on No. 18 Oklahoma State and a three-game advantage on No. 12 TCU. The Red Raiders have already won their series against both challengers.
While Tadlock is glad the Red Raiders controls their own destiny in the league, he is not about to start getting ahead of himself now. After a few days off this week, Texas Tech will be back on the road at Kansas, and its focus will remain the same.
“We need to keep trying to do what we’re doing, which is play good baseball and continue to get better,” Tadlock said. “It feels good, but at the same time, we’ve got to play good when the bell rings.”
Spartans Bounce Back
Coming off a weekend series loss at home to surging Indiana, Michigan State needed to bounce back quickly with its series against rival Michigan next up on the schedule. The Spartans were at risk of dropping off the pace in the Big Ten Conference, and falling out of the race for an at-large bid.
After losing Friday’s opener in extra innings in Ann Arbor, Michigan State evened the series back home in East Lansing with a 7-6 victory. It then claimed the marquee series win it needed Sunday with a 7-4 victory on the road.
Coach Jake Boss said the Spartans (30-11) showed their character this weekend.
“They were three fun games to watch from a fans perspective, and two really good teams,” Boss said. “I think that’s a heck of a ballclub they have over there and I think we’re the same way. Two similar teams. It was a really good series, and we’re fortunate to come out on the positive end of it and we feel good about it right now.”
Michigan State’s resolve was tested Friday. Michigan took an early 2-0 lead, and redshirt junior lefthander Cam Vieux left the game injured in the second inning. But the Spartans hung tough and tied the game in the ninth inning, before the Wolverines walked off with the victory in the 11th. Boss said they will be careful with ace Vieux, who felt some stiffness, and believe he will be able to pitch next weekend or the one following.
Because of the way they lost Friday, Boss said it was tough to get back up for Saturday’s game. The Wolverines grabbed an early lead, but the Spartans battled back for the victory and then carried that momentum into Sunday.
Boss said closing the series out with a victory in Ann Arbor made for a special day.
“It’s a tough place to win for sure, but it’s a fun bus ride home when you win down there,” he said. “It wasn’t necessarily pretty today if you look at box score. I didn’t feel like we played great baseball, but when we needed to make a play we did.”
Michigan State is now in third place in the Big Ten, 1 1/2 games behind first-place Minnesota, with three weeks to go. The Spartans have finals this week, and will then be well-positioned for the stretch run.
“It’s a good way to go into finals,” Boss said. “Hopefully we’re able to feed off that and concentrate on baseball the rest of the way.”
Eight for Omaha
Florida, Florida State, Miami, Mississippi State, South Carolina, Texas A&M, Texas Christian, Vanderbilt
No changes to the field this week. Texas Christian’s series loss to Texas Tech wasn’t ideal, as it will make it more difficult for the Horned Frogs to grab a national seed. But as long as Luken Baker is able to return to the mound in the next few weeks and righthander Mitchell Traver makes a strong return from injury next weekend, TCU should be in fine shape by the time the postseason begins.
Eye-Catchers
Five players or programs who stood out this weekend
Georgia Tech: With a resounding sweep of then-No. 19 Coastal Carolina, the Yellow Jackets (30-14) reinserted themselves into the regional hosting race. Georgia Tech will look to build on that momentum this week, as No. 4 Miami comes to Atlanta.
Gavin Golsan, of, Jacksonville State: In Jacksonville State’s 26-11 victory at Belmont on Saturday, Golsan went 7-for-7, setting the program’s single-game record for hits and tying the runs record (six). Though he went hitless Sunday, the senior is still hitting a career-best .306/.372/.378.
Daniel Johnson, of, New Mexico State: Johnson led New Mexico State’s offense in a key sweep of Sacramento State, going 10-for-15 with four home runs and 13 RBIs on the weekend. The junior is hitting .361/.421/.594 with eight home runs and 22 stolen bases this season.
Kent State: With a 4-3 victory Sunday against Miami (Ohio), the Golden Flashes (32-11) claimed the series and tightened their hold on first place in the Mid-American Conference. The win was also the 100th of coach Jeff Duncan’s career, which Kent State took the opportunity to celebrate.
J.B. Woodman, of, Mississippi: In a crucial series against Louisiana State, Woodman, a team captain, came up huge for Mississippi. He hit three home runs, drove in eight runs and threw out three runners at home plate, as the Rebels claimed the series in Oxford.
Looking Ahead
Three weekend series we’re most excited for:
(10) Vanderbilt at (2) Texas A&M: After a game Tuesday against Western Kentucky, Vanderbilt will start what might be the hardest 10-day stretch for any team in the country this year. It will travel to Texas A&M this weekend, return home for a midweek game against Louisville before heading to Florida for a weekend series.
(17) Oregon State at Arizona: In a tightly bunched Pac-12 Conference, Oregon State and Arizona enter the weekend one and 1 1/2 games, respectively, behind co-leaders Utah and Washington. The Beavers and Wildcats will be looking to stay near the top of the conference standings and bolster their case to host a regional.
Indiana at (22) Minnesota: Indiana has gotten hot of late, winning its last four Big Ten Conference series to climb to second in the standings. Minnesota holds a half-game lead on the Hoosiers and will have homefield advantage for this title showdown.
Two weekend series you shouldn’t overlook:
Kennesaw State at Jacksonville: First place in the Atlantic Sun Conference will be on the line this weekend, as first-place Kennesaw State travels to Jacksonville. Both teams have won their first four conference series, and the team that extends their streak to five will be in the driver’s seat to claim the regular-season title.
Southeastern Louisiana at Lamar: Sitting at third place in the Southland Conference, Lamar will have a chance to move up over the next two weeks, as it takes on first-place Southeastern Louisiana and then second-place Sam Houston State.
One midweek game to keep an eye on:
(19) Florida Atlantic at (4) Miami (Wednesday, 6 p.m.): The last time these two teams met, Florida Atlantic upset then-No. 1 Miami in Boca Raton. The Hurricanes will try to get some revenge Wednesday, when the Owls come to Coral Gables.
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