The South Carolina Gamecocks will take on the University of Florida Gators beginning tonight for a three game series that determines the SEC regular season championship. This is and will be classic SEC Baseball.
This is exactly the way it we envisioned it to happen and many others knew that the SEC Championship, along with a potential national seed, would end up being decided in this upcoming match-up. The Gators (38-12, 20-7 SEC) travel to Columbia to face South Carolina (42-11, 20-7 SEC) in a series that yields a championship to the team that wins 2 out of 3.
The series opener on Thursday is set for 7 p.m. and will be televised on SportSouth. Friday’s game at 7 p.m. will be televised on FSN. The series finale on Saturday will start at 4 p.m. and will be televised live on FSN.
Florida will be making its inaugural visit to Carolina Stadium. The Gators are 10-9 on the road this spring and are 3-1 in league series, taking down Tennessee, Kentucky and Alabama by 2-1 margins and falling twice in three meetings at Ole Miss.
These team teams are very similar and know each other well. Look at these similarities—
· Both teams rank in the middle tier of offense in the SEC. Florida’s .304 team batting average ranks fifth in the conference, .002 ahead of sixth-place South Carolina.
· South Carolina’s team ERA of 3.65 is the best in the SEC, ahead of Florida’s fourth-best team ERA of 3.98.
· The Gators lead the conference in fielding percentage at .978, but South Carolina’s sixth best .974 fielding percentage isn’t far behind.
Here are some notable USC and UF stats that proves interesting for those that like college baseball –
· South Carolina is hitting .302 (547-for-1814) as a team on the year with the squad’s on-base percentage .400 and slugging percentage at .497 for the season. The Gamecocks have scored 406 runs with 104 doubles, 11 triples, and 76 homers.
· Heading into the final weekend of play, the Gamecock pitching staff leads the Southeastern Conference in earned run average (3.65), opposing batting average (.228), hits allowed (398) and runs allowed (226). The Gamecocks are also second in strikeouts (477).
· South Carolina also leads the Southeastern Conference in SEC games in earned run average (3.76), opposing batting average (.240) and hits allowed (211). The Gamecocks are also second in strikeouts (223) and runs allowed (120).
· Florida’s bullpen is 14-2 with 13 saves and a 4.27 ERA in 202.1 innings, its starters are 24-10 with a 3.74 ERA in 240.2 innings.
Speaking of pitching here is the slant of starters –
Probable Starting Pitchers
Thursday
South Carolina – Blake Cooper (Sr. RHP) 10-0, 3.01 ERA, 89.2 IP, 28 BB, 79 SO
Florida – Alex Panteliodis (So. LHP) 8-2, 3.34 ERA, 72.2 IP, 15 BB, 53 SO
Friday
South Carolina – Sam Dyson (Jr. RHP) 5-4, 3.79 ERA, 76.0 IP, 16 BB, 79 SO
Florida – Hudson Randall (Fr. RHP) 6-3, 2.96 ERA, 70.0 IP, 16 BB, 49 SO
Saturday
South Carolina – TBA
Florida – Brian Johnson (Fr. LHP) 5-2, 3.53 ERA, 58.2 IP, 11 BB, 41 SO
3 Keys for a series win for USC:
1. USC must score early and try to do it first in each game –
UF is 10-8 when opposing teams score first as noted above. The Gamecocks are also 29-5 on the year when scoring first in the game.
2. Gamecocks need to simply do what they have been doing all season –
The Gamecocks have had success in getting timely hits and good pitching. No need to change today.
South Carolina is now 33-3 on the year when it out-hits the opponent and 32-5 when hitting at least one home run. Carolina holds a 35-1 advantage when owning a lead entering the seventh inning and 6-2 when the game is tied heading into the seventh. South Carolina is 16-7 in games decided by three runs or less.
UF is 29-3 (.906) when having more hits than its foe and 7-9 (.438) when out-hit. The Gators are 28-4 (.875) scoring first.
It is crucial that USC does not have a repeat of the UK series and the bats come ready to put the ball in play. For Dyson and Webb, we simply need yet again a stellar outing on Thursday and Friday.
3. Win each inning –
For the Gamecocks it comes down to breaking each game down into winning the innings. Doing the right things each time, limiting errors, turning double plays, waiting for your pitch, doing what the coaches say, playing the right pursuit angles in the field and keeping focused in each game.
Simple right for the Gamecocks? 2 out of 3 is what I see but a sweep is what I pray for to occur. I see USC taking the first two games and UF getting game 3 (Like in Arkansas). Your thoughts?
Other links to read on this match-up:
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Garnet & Black Attack – Weekend Preview: Gamecocks Host Gators for All the Marbles
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Baseball America writer Aaron Fitt, breaks down USC v UF
Watch this video as it will get you pumped for this battle…..
