The weekend was supposed to be a match up of the most intense college baseball rivalry in the country. It was supposed to be great for TV and college baseball in general. It was supposed to be Clemson against South Carolina. That was the plan. But the plan didn’t work out.
While South Carolina took care of business, and looked like a legit host should, those in the upstate simply didn’t. Clemson couldn’t win their own regional, so they won’t be coming to town.[1]
Instead of Clemson, we get the Tiger conquerors, the University of Connecticut. Some fans may breathe a sigh of relief that Clemson isn’t coming to town because even though beating them is wonderful, the prospect of losing to them is exponentially worse. So we get a two seed from the Big East. That’s great, right? We should book our flights to Omaha. Will we play on the first day or the second? Not so fast. A closer look at the team from Storrs reveals that they are very much deserving of a trip to Omaha, and, if the Gamecocks can beat them, they will be deserving, too.
The Super-Regional is like a weekend series, the main difference is that if the series is decided in two games, there is no third game. This particular series will be played Saturday, Sunday and Monday if necessary. Saturday’s game will be at 6 pm on ESPN2. Sunday’s game will be at 7 pm on ESPNU. If there is a third game, it will be at either 1:00, 4:00 or 7:00 on Monday. The time and television will be determined based on how many games need to be played around the country on Monday.
Pitching: Here’s what your starting rotations are probably going to look like for both teams:
| Huskies | ERA | Gamecocks | ERA | |||||
| Saturday | Matt Barnes | RHP | 11-4 | 1.62 | Michael Roth | LHP | 12-3 | 1.10 |
| Sunday | Greg Nappo | LHP | 10-2 | 2.55 | Colby Holmes | RHP | 7-3 | 3.76 |
| Monday | Brian Ward | LHP | 6-1 | 3.28 | Forrest Koumas | RHP | 6-1 | 3.07 |
You can see from those starters’ numbers that UConn can pitch. It should be noted that the strength of competition in the Big East isn’t like what Roth, Holmes and Koumas pitched against in the SEC. That’s not to say the numbers aren’t legit, but you have to give it some context.
The ace of the line up is clearly Matt Barnes. Barnes was selected in the first round by the Boston Red Sox. He is a hard throwing right-hander and can reach 96 on the gun. His change up is very good, but his other pitches are fair. He strikes out lots of batters, so it will take a strong effort from the Garnet and Black to put runs up against him.
Greg Nappo, the Saturday starter was the MVP of the Clemson regional and is a pretty good pitcher in his own right. He doesn’t throw quite as hard as Barnes or strike out as many, but he’s pretty effective. Freshman Brian Ward is the third starter. Ward is a strikeout pitcher, but his numbers haven’t been as good, and he has walked his fair share of batters.
Middle relief will probably be handled by some combination of junior right-hander David Fischer (2-1, 1.68), sophomore right-hander Dan Feehan (2-2, 2.36) and sophomore right-hander Will Jolin (2-2, 3.76). The closer is junior right-hander Kevin Vance (1-0, 1.57, 13 saves). Opponents are only batting .130 against him, and his strikeout to walk ratio is better than 5 to 1. We don’t want to have to make up runs against this guy.
Batting: The clear stud of the line up is Centerfielder George Springer. Springer, the Big East player of the year, was drafted 11th overall on Monday. He is batting .350 with 12 home runs and 77 driven in. He doesn’t lead the team in batting average; that distinction belongs to clean-up hitter, First Baseman Mike Nemeth. Nemeth hit .363 with 3 home runs and 50 RBI. If you make it through those two Ryan Fuller, the third baseman, often bats fifth. Fuller hit .321 with 6 home runs and 58 RBI. That’s a strong heart of the order.
The rest of the line-up is strong as well. L.J. Mazilli (not Marzilli) leads off with a .346 average and is often followed by John Andreoli at .319. Nick Ahmed, the first baseman, who bats down in the order is hitting a mere .333. With the exception of Nemeth, all of the aforementioned will run. The team has stolen 127 bases in 170 attempts.
It should be noted that the team batting average is an amazing .311. The entire infield, catcher included, was second team all big east. In fact, there were 8 UConn batters named 1st, 2nd or 3rd team.
What the Gamecocks Need: They need a home field advantage. This group of Huskies is no joke as they have quality pitching and hitting. A rowdy Gamecock crowd can go a long way to un-nerving opponents. The Gamecocks need two wins in a row and not allow this to stretch into Monday. It needs to be like every weekend of the season (except Mississippi State). Get two out of three and get a ticket to Omaha.
[1] To their credit Clemson did beat Coastal Carolina in their regional, so they can legitimately claim to be the second best program in the state this year.
