South Carolina will play Vanderbilt tonight in the SEC Tournament. Auburn and Georgia play at 5:30 Eastern, and the Gamecocks will play 30 minutes after that game has ended. CSS is carrying the game, but you should probably be able to get it in Columbia on Time Warner on channel 506 or 519.
How’d They Get Here? South Carolina had a bye for being the East Division Champion. Vanderbilt beat 8th seeded Georgia last night 4-1.
Haven’t we played them already? Yes, we won 2 of 3 in Nashville in the 3rd SEC series of the year. The rubber match went extra innings, so it was a very close series.
Who’s pitching? South Carolina will send Jordan Montgomery to the mound. Montgomery pitched against Vanderbilt in the third game of the series in Nashville. He went 2 innings, allowing 2 hits an 0 runs to earn the win.
Vanderbilt will counter with sophomore RHP T.J. Pecoraro. He is on a hot streak right now, just like the whole team. He has pitched back to back complete games. Against LSU, he allowed only two runs and followed that game up by allowing 0 runs in a complete game shut out of Ole Miss. Against South Carolina in Nashville, Pecoraro pitched two innings and was generally effective. He allowed some runners he inherited to score but didn’t allow any of his own.
Who are the good Vandy batters, again? Anthony Gomez is their best batter. Tony Kemp is a speedy lead off man who can hit as well. Mike Yastrzemski, Conrad Gregor and Spencer Navin are other names to know.
So, are we going to win? I don’t know, maybe. Vanderbilt is hot right now. They swept Ole Miss last weekend and took 2 of 3 from LSU in Baton Rouge two weeks ago. If Montgomery is on, this should be a great game to watch.
