After a scare last night versus the Bucknell Bison, the Gamecocks advance to take on the pesky Bulldogs from The Citadel in the “winners bracket” of the Columbia Regional.
USC has Jackie Bradley Jr and Adrian Morales to thank for putting them here with their home runs. USC had a slow start offensively last night and rough outing by Sam Dyson but got the win by the score of 9-5 thank goodness.
The winner of Saturday night’s game between USC-Citadel will move to the championship game Sunday night and the loser will have to go to the losers bracket which is a up-hill battle from there.
So this marque match-up with loads riding on a win means bring out the big guns for both teams. The Bulldogs will send their ace, Asher Wojciechowski (12-2) to the mound to face Carolina ace Blake Cooper (10-1). Should be a great duel from two guys likely to be in the MLB soon.
Keys to a USC Win
1. Take advantage of Wojo mistakes — Wojchiechowski’s numbers are outstanding – 12-2, 3.25 ERA, 144 SO, Opp. BA .228 – but he is not perfect so wait for your pitch and drive the ball to the gaps. Yes he will throw nasty stuff but wait for the right pitch and take advantage of it. Make him throw a lot of balls and work the count.
2. Cooper has to throw bullets — I got faith in Cooper in this game. He knows what he must do. Just limit their best hitter, 2B Bryan Altman – .329 batting average, 13 HR, 66 RBI.
3. Offense, Offense, Offense — Gamecocks need offense as that is what beat The Bulldogs the other two times these two teams met in 2010. SC won 10-1 at Carolina Stadium on March 30 and at Joe Riley Park 10-4 on April 14.
Take care of buisness tonight South Carolina. I see a win with 5-7 SC runs being scored and 2-4 Citadel runs.
