[COLOR= rgb(178, 34, 34)][SIZE= 24px]Close look at the South Carolina vs Clemson series[/COLOR]
March 3, 2015[/SIZE]
general thought before getting real game-specific ... Clemson is a good baseball team. They’re a talented group of players and they haven’t been far off of South Carolina for the past handful of seasons from a talent perspective, even though the Gamecocks have dominated the rivalry. Each year I do the position advantages, they’re really close. This year, I rated 12 categories. I had the Gamecocks having the advantage in six categories, Clemson four and two as a push.
Of those 12 categories, two of South Carolina’s advantages - middle relief and closer - were basically negated because the Gamecocks were unable to get into Clemson’s bullpen. Of course, Taylor Widener did his job on Saturday.
The reason South Carolina has won so much in this rivalry series lately is because they’ve played with more confidence and have played clean baseball. The Gamecocks have had a mental edge and that didn’t manifest itself this weekend. South Carolina played sloppy baseball - both offensively and defensively - and Clemson didn’t make many mistakes. When they did, South Carolina didn’t capitalize.
The point is, South Carolina didn’t lose to a bad baseball team this weekend. The problem is that the Gamecocks played bad baseball.
There are days when South Carolina hitters struggle because they’re getting in their own way. There were plenty of bad at-bats on Monday, but the reason that the hitters struggled was because Brody Koerner, Clemson’s starting pitcher, was just that good. I was as high on Koerner (from an immediate impact standpoint) as a pitcher coming out of high school as anyone in their class, which also included Clate Schmidt, Lucas Sims (first round Braves draft pick) and Matthew Crownover. I thought he had immediate impact stuff. I’m not sure why it took him so long to put it together up there, but he’s finally figured it out. I was told by multiple people within the Clemson program, and have mentioned it on several platforms, that he was their best pitcher overall during the fall and preseason. He pitched like their best guy today.
That being said, South Carolina’s hitters couldn’t figure out any answers. As I go back through the game in my head, I can’t think of a single hard-hit ball. I’m sure there were a few, but Koerner was dominant. He challenged USC’s hitters inside all game long and they were just overpowered, in my estimation. A lot of weak contact, 14 ground balls, which included two double plays and seven strikeouts - four looking.
Gene Cone was the only one - and maybe Elliott Caldwell - to provide some quality at-bats.
As bad as South Carolina was at the plate, the defense was just as horrific and maybe worse. Jordan Gore made a great play at third base in the first inning of play but that was as good as it would get. Here are a few examples; some that will show up in the box score and some that won’t:
-- Left fielder Elliott Caldwell completely misplayed a ball in the first inning that Marcus Mooney had to go catch in left field. Legit left field, not even really shallow left. Caldwell was never close to being there. Clemson’s left fielder, Reed Rohlman, caught a similar type of pop fly with ease later in the game calling off his infielders.
Caldwell was late getting to a bloop down the left field line and didn’t make a quick or an overly accurate throw to third base, which allowed the runner to be safe at third.
While it was a fairly tough play, Caldwell couldn’t bring in a fly ball at the wall in the seventh inning. If he had, the whole complexion of the inning (and game) could have changed. At South Carolina, that catch is expected. Maybe it’s not at Furman or even Tennessee but a top program has to have an outfielder who makes that catch in that situation.
-- Mooney had two routine throws that were low and had to be picked out of the dirt at first base by Kyle Martin. There were runners on base both times that would have scored if not for Martin. Mooney also had the throwing error in the second inning that eventually led to an unearned run.
-- Second baseman Max Schrock may have had the second-worst day of his career (UNC Super) on Monday. He committed an error in the fifth inning on a ball that could have been a double play. What may have been lost (I didn’t watch the broadcast) is that the ball took an awkward hop but Schrock was able to glove it. It may have thrown his concentration off just a bit.
But there isn’t any excuse for the ball in the seventh squirming past him that deflected off of Clarke Schmidt. I’m not sure why it wasn’t given an error. Maybe there’s some sort of scoring rule that I don’t know about? That wouldn’t surprise me, but what I do know is a baseball rolled right past him and it was a poor defensive play, even if not an error on the scoreboard.
Then, there was the play back up the middle that would have cut down a runner at home play by 10 feet. He gloved the bouncer cleanly just behind the mound but lost the ball on the exchange. He had no place to go but first base and he was given a call by the umpire. The runner appeared to be safe, which would have been another error if the umpire had gotten the call wrong. It could have been a three-error day if not for beneficial calls by the scorer and umpire.
-- The game was 5-0 in the ninth and out of reach but DC Arendas made an error on a routine charge play just completely losing it on the exchange. Also, Gore, who had moved to second base, didn’t recognize a runner was going home on a hit to the outfield and didn’t make a throw in to home which would have been a close play.
-- Catcher Hunter Taylor threw a ball into left field in the ninth inning for South Carolina’s third error. While it was a tough pitch to block, a runner came home on a ball in the dirt that didn’t get too far away, but just far enough.
-- Shoddy defense contributed to at least five runs on the board. One could argue six runs may not have scored, but it was too hard to tell if Gore’s throw would have been in time. Of course, even if the Gamecocks played great defense, it still would have ended in a 1-0 loss.
-- I didn’t have a huge problem with the way the staff pitched on Monday. Sophomore Josh Reagan is getting hit too much but the defense didn’t help him. He’s a command pitcher who isn’t going to strike out a lot of guys. He’s got to have a defense behind him to be successful, and he didn’t on Monday. That being said, he’s given up 19 hits in 12 2/3 innings and that’s just not good enough.
The only other thing I’ll say about the pitchers from Monday is that Vince Fiori, who was very good overall, has to do a better job of working ahead and not walking guys. He was behind in every count today except his first hitter, which popped his first pitch up.
-- I like Taylor and think he’s the best catcher on the roster, but he’s still got a lot of work to do. There’s going to have to be some patience there but they need him to grow up quickly. He fumbled way too many pitches this weekend. He’s one of the hardest workers on the team though, and that’s helping him continue to get chances.
-- If you want to buy into the “energy in the dugout” thing, that’s fine. It’s an excuse, and a bad one at that. I saw a team that didn’t play good baseball. I don’t think it’s something that throwing a water cooler would solve. It’s about going out there and executing, playing well and paying attention to detail. It’s up to the coaching staff and the leaders on the team to create an environment for success. Baseball isn’t about bunnies, fish and manufactured feel goods. It’s about actual feel goods, and there’s not a lot of that right now.
-- I think there are going to be some changes made this week, and it wouldn’t surprise me to see some upperclassmen take a game or two off. I think Clark Scolamiero needs a chance in the outfield. I think Madison Stokes needs another look somewhere.
It’s going to be difficult to find the right balance of youth and experience. Head coach Chad Holbrook is in a tough spot. He’s got some older players with lower ceilings that haven’t really won as much as expected. He’s got some younger guys with higher ceilings but they’re inexperienced. It’s hard to know what the right buttons to push are at this point, but he hasn’t quite hit on the right combinations just yet.
-- I do have to rope a couple positive thoughts in as well. Freshman Brandon Murray pitched pretty well out of the bullpen as did sophomore John Parke for his second straight appearance. Those guys have upside and getting them time in a big series, even if not in big moments, is only going to help them when they’re needed in a big moment.
March 3, 2015[/SIZE]
general thought before getting real game-specific ... Clemson is a good baseball team. They’re a talented group of players and they haven’t been far off of South Carolina for the past handful of seasons from a talent perspective, even though the Gamecocks have dominated the rivalry. Each year I do the position advantages, they’re really close. This year, I rated 12 categories. I had the Gamecocks having the advantage in six categories, Clemson four and two as a push.
Of those 12 categories, two of South Carolina’s advantages - middle relief and closer - were basically negated because the Gamecocks were unable to get into Clemson’s bullpen. Of course, Taylor Widener did his job on Saturday.
The reason South Carolina has won so much in this rivalry series lately is because they’ve played with more confidence and have played clean baseball. The Gamecocks have had a mental edge and that didn’t manifest itself this weekend. South Carolina played sloppy baseball - both offensively and defensively - and Clemson didn’t make many mistakes. When they did, South Carolina didn’t capitalize.
The point is, South Carolina didn’t lose to a bad baseball team this weekend. The problem is that the Gamecocks played bad baseball.
There are days when South Carolina hitters struggle because they’re getting in their own way. There were plenty of bad at-bats on Monday, but the reason that the hitters struggled was because Brody Koerner, Clemson’s starting pitcher, was just that good. I was as high on Koerner (from an immediate impact standpoint) as a pitcher coming out of high school as anyone in their class, which also included Clate Schmidt, Lucas Sims (first round Braves draft pick) and Matthew Crownover. I thought he had immediate impact stuff. I’m not sure why it took him so long to put it together up there, but he’s finally figured it out. I was told by multiple people within the Clemson program, and have mentioned it on several platforms, that he was their best pitcher overall during the fall and preseason. He pitched like their best guy today.
That being said, South Carolina’s hitters couldn’t figure out any answers. As I go back through the game in my head, I can’t think of a single hard-hit ball. I’m sure there were a few, but Koerner was dominant. He challenged USC’s hitters inside all game long and they were just overpowered, in my estimation. A lot of weak contact, 14 ground balls, which included two double plays and seven strikeouts - four looking.
Gene Cone was the only one - and maybe Elliott Caldwell - to provide some quality at-bats.
As bad as South Carolina was at the plate, the defense was just as horrific and maybe worse. Jordan Gore made a great play at third base in the first inning of play but that was as good as it would get. Here are a few examples; some that will show up in the box score and some that won’t:
-- Left fielder Elliott Caldwell completely misplayed a ball in the first inning that Marcus Mooney had to go catch in left field. Legit left field, not even really shallow left. Caldwell was never close to being there. Clemson’s left fielder, Reed Rohlman, caught a similar type of pop fly with ease later in the game calling off his infielders.
Caldwell was late getting to a bloop down the left field line and didn’t make a quick or an overly accurate throw to third base, which allowed the runner to be safe at third.
While it was a fairly tough play, Caldwell couldn’t bring in a fly ball at the wall in the seventh inning. If he had, the whole complexion of the inning (and game) could have changed. At South Carolina, that catch is expected. Maybe it’s not at Furman or even Tennessee but a top program has to have an outfielder who makes that catch in that situation.
-- Mooney had two routine throws that were low and had to be picked out of the dirt at first base by Kyle Martin. There were runners on base both times that would have scored if not for Martin. Mooney also had the throwing error in the second inning that eventually led to an unearned run.
-- Second baseman Max Schrock may have had the second-worst day of his career (UNC Super) on Monday. He committed an error in the fifth inning on a ball that could have been a double play. What may have been lost (I didn’t watch the broadcast) is that the ball took an awkward hop but Schrock was able to glove it. It may have thrown his concentration off just a bit.
But there isn’t any excuse for the ball in the seventh squirming past him that deflected off of Clarke Schmidt. I’m not sure why it wasn’t given an error. Maybe there’s some sort of scoring rule that I don’t know about? That wouldn’t surprise me, but what I do know is a baseball rolled right past him and it was a poor defensive play, even if not an error on the scoreboard.
Then, there was the play back up the middle that would have cut down a runner at home play by 10 feet. He gloved the bouncer cleanly just behind the mound but lost the ball on the exchange. He had no place to go but first base and he was given a call by the umpire. The runner appeared to be safe, which would have been another error if the umpire had gotten the call wrong. It could have been a three-error day if not for beneficial calls by the scorer and umpire.
-- The game was 5-0 in the ninth and out of reach but DC Arendas made an error on a routine charge play just completely losing it on the exchange. Also, Gore, who had moved to second base, didn’t recognize a runner was going home on a hit to the outfield and didn’t make a throw in to home which would have been a close play.
-- Catcher Hunter Taylor threw a ball into left field in the ninth inning for South Carolina’s third error. While it was a tough pitch to block, a runner came home on a ball in the dirt that didn’t get too far away, but just far enough.
-- Shoddy defense contributed to at least five runs on the board. One could argue six runs may not have scored, but it was too hard to tell if Gore’s throw would have been in time. Of course, even if the Gamecocks played great defense, it still would have ended in a 1-0 loss.
-- I didn’t have a huge problem with the way the staff pitched on Monday. Sophomore Josh Reagan is getting hit too much but the defense didn’t help him. He’s a command pitcher who isn’t going to strike out a lot of guys. He’s got to have a defense behind him to be successful, and he didn’t on Monday. That being said, he’s given up 19 hits in 12 2/3 innings and that’s just not good enough.
The only other thing I’ll say about the pitchers from Monday is that Vince Fiori, who was very good overall, has to do a better job of working ahead and not walking guys. He was behind in every count today except his first hitter, which popped his first pitch up.
-- I like Taylor and think he’s the best catcher on the roster, but he’s still got a lot of work to do. There’s going to have to be some patience there but they need him to grow up quickly. He fumbled way too many pitches this weekend. He’s one of the hardest workers on the team though, and that’s helping him continue to get chances.
-- If you want to buy into the “energy in the dugout” thing, that’s fine. It’s an excuse, and a bad one at that. I saw a team that didn’t play good baseball. I don’t think it’s something that throwing a water cooler would solve. It’s about going out there and executing, playing well and paying attention to detail. It’s up to the coaching staff and the leaders on the team to create an environment for success. Baseball isn’t about bunnies, fish and manufactured feel goods. It’s about actual feel goods, and there’s not a lot of that right now.
-- I think there are going to be some changes made this week, and it wouldn’t surprise me to see some upperclassmen take a game or two off. I think Clark Scolamiero needs a chance in the outfield. I think Madison Stokes needs another look somewhere.
It’s going to be difficult to find the right balance of youth and experience. Head coach Chad Holbrook is in a tough spot. He’s got some older players with lower ceilings that haven’t really won as much as expected. He’s got some younger guys with higher ceilings but they’re inexperienced. It’s hard to know what the right buttons to push are at this point, but he hasn’t quite hit on the right combinations just yet.
-- I do have to rope a couple positive thoughts in as well. Freshman Brandon Murray pitched pretty well out of the bullpen as did sophomore John Parke for his second straight appearance. Those guys have upside and getting them time in a big series, even if not in big moments, is only going to help them when they’re needed in a big moment.
