Super Regional Preview: Oklahoma State-South Carolina

COLUMBIA SUPER REGIONAL

Hosted by South Carolina • Founders Park • Columbia, S.C.

Follow the action on Twitter: @GamecockBaseball |@OSUBaseball

Oklahoma State (39-20) at South Carolina (46-16)

Saturday
3 p.m. (ESPN2)
Sunday
3 p.m. (ESPN2 or ESPNU)
Monday
1 p.m./4 p.m./7 p.m. (ESPN2) or 7 p.m. (ESPNU)

Oklahoma State

Coach: Josh Holliday
Postseason History: Fourth super regional appearance (first since 2014). Seeking 20th trip to Omaha.
Postseason Route: No. 2 seed in Clemson Regional. Won in three games, defeating Clemson in the final.

Pos.	Name	Bats	Yr.	AVG	OBP	SLG	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB
C	Collin Theroux	R	Jr.	.161	.317	.286	5	27	34	87	0
1B	Dustin Williams	L	Jr.	.219	.323	.463	14	42	32	72	4
2B	J.R. Davis	R	Jr.	.360	.441	.457	1	31	24	19	9
3B	Garrett Benge	L	So.	.297	.387	.447	4	38	31	44	7
SS	Donnie Walton	B	Sr.	.350	.446	.462	3	43	32	29	13
OF	Jon Littell	R	So.	.264	.333	.357	2	23	18	39	3
OF	Ryan Sluder	R	Jr.	.213	.293	.335	3	18	13	41	7
OF	Corey Hassel	R	Sr.	.291	.367	.467	6	37	20	58	15
DH	Conor Costello	R	Sr.	.367	.468	.633	5	30	16	20	4
Pos.	Name	Throws	Yr.	W	L	SV	ERA	IP	BB	SO	AVG
SP	Thomas Hatch	R	So.	7	2	0	2.16	112	28	102	.234
SP	Tyler Buffett	R	Jr.	7	3	9	3.34	67	29	66	.236
SP	Jensen Elliott	R	Fr.	9	2	0	3.27	85	34	69	.240
RP	Trey Cobb	R	Jr.	4	7	3	3.34	73	28	91	.266

Scouting Report
(anonymous coach breaks down the Cowboys)

“No. 1, what I saw is Hatch is your No. 1 type guy. He’s a Friday guy. He can beat anybody. You’ve got that and then Cobb is very good and Elliott is solid. The depth on the mound is what really makes them strong. (Pitching coach Rob Walton) does a great job calling pitches. All their pitchers are able to locate their secondary pitches at any time in the count. The only thing on their pitching staff that I think they may lack is a lefthander. They don’t have a whole lot of that. But their righthanders come in and they all have command and command with multiple pitches.

“I think their offense is much, much better than the numbers might suggest. They have a couple guys you might be able to pitch to, but the first three guys are going to be tough and are going to be on base. When Costello and Williams are going, you don’t want to pitch to them with runners on base. They play really good defense. It complements that staff well. Benge is a good third baseman, (Donnie) Walton and Davis are good in the middle. They have some good arms in the outfield.

“I think the biggest thing (Donnie Walton) does is adds his presence. He’s just dripping with confidence. He really knows he’s the best player on the field, and if he’s not, he thinks he is in a good way. Having a guy like that, to me every team needs a guy like that. He’s the guy that makes that team go. He never looks worried about anything. His presence is his biggest thing. He elevates teammates around him. The confidence he plays with, it shows to the rest of the team that they’re good.”

South Carolina

Coach: Chad Holbrook
Postseason History: 12th super regional appearance (first since 2013). Seeking 12th trip to Omaha.
Postseason Route: No. 1 seed in Columbia Regional. Won in five games, defeating UNC Wilmington in the final.

Pos.	Name	Bats	Yr.	AVG	OBP	SLG	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB
C	Chris Cullen	R	Fr.	.238	.337	.333	1	23	33	37	2
1B	Madison Stokes	R	So.	.319	.389	.404	1	12	7	25	5
2B	D.C. Arendas	L	Sr.	.234	.337	.386	5	24	19	54	3
3B	Jonah Bride	R	So.	.289	.401	.372	2	32	23	39	8
SS	Marcus Mooney	R	Sr.	.310	.413	.376	1	29	23	20	4
OF	T.J. Hopkins	R	Fr.	.327	.397	.416	1	26	14	36	8
OF	Dom Thompson-Williams	L	Jr.	.323	.423	.513	7	40	38	51	18
OF	Gene Cone	L	Jr.	.370	.479	.510	4	30	43	24	7
DH	Alex Destino	L	So.	.325	.372	.518	10	59	17	43	2
Pos.	Name	Throws	Yr.	W	L	SV	ERA	IP	BB	SO	AVG
SP	Clarke Schmidt	R	So.	9	4	0	3.33	105	25	123	.248
SP	Braden Webb	R	Fr.	10	5	0	3.24	94	46	123	.214
SP	Adam Hill	R	Fr.	7	0	0	3.53	66	28	72	.208
RP	Josh Reagan	L	Jr.	3	2	11	2.08	56	20	50	.172

Scouting Report
(anonymous coach breaks down the Gamecocks)

“That team starts with Gene Cone, offensively. He’s had an incredible year. Just kind of sets the table for them offensively. It goes back to pitching. However they do it, they’re going to run three guys at you.

“Reagan’s not your typical closer with the big arm and explosive out pitch, but he’s kind of the opposite, he’s kind of that crafty lefty on the back end. He’s more frustrating because you feel like you should hit him and you don’t. And he is the polar opposite, they wanted to go Schmidt, (Tyler) Johnson or Webb, Johnson and then Regan on the backend, and he’s just the completely different look of what you’ve been seeing for seven, eight innings.

“They play really good defense. Similar to Florida, but not quite Florida. I think they lack the depth in the bullpen, but some of those guys are stepping up right now for them. I don’t think their lineup oohs and ahhs you. Cone, you got Thompson-Williams, Jonah Bride’s a nice little player but he’s not your typical guy in the middle of lineup. He kind of shoots everything the other way and stays inside the ball and does a good job. I think that’s their weakness, is the bullpen depth and the bottom of that lineup.

“And with the (junior college) guys in there, Webb being freshman and Schmidt (a sophomore), they obviously lack some postseason experience which is funny to say about South Carolina. It kind of sounds like an oxymoron but that’s reality. They’ve got three JC guys playing and some sophomores and freshmen. Those guys don’t really have that type of postseason experience that past South Carolina teams have had.

“They don’t have the experience of playing in the postseason, but that’s where I think their crowd comes into play to help them to get that cockiness and that confidence. But Oklahoma State’s walking in there after playing at Clemson. That will be a really good matchup because of Oklahoma State’s strength on the mound. They could give South Carolina problems scoring runs. If they can get the lead early, it’s almost like these playoff basketball games, if you can get the lead early and take the crowd out of it, I think that would really help them. It’s going to be the same recipe (as last weekend) for Oklahoma State: pitch, play defense and get to a lead and then, who knows?”