This weekend’s South Carolina baseball series against Mississippi State here in Columbia is the halfway mark of the 10-series SEC schedule for USC. And this will be an interesting test for USC’s bats, which is something you can read about in tomorrow’s print edition.
Here are a few stats and items that didn’t make their way into the preview story ..
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USC enters this series having pitched well all year – a 2.86 team earned-run average (second in the SEC). Mississippi State is right behind the Gamecocks – 2.93. Both teams are hitting about the same, too -- .274 for USC, .273 for the Bulldogs, which rank eighth and ninth in the league.
USC couldn’t get enough offense going, once again, in Wednesday’s 5-4 loss at Division II Francis Marion. The Gamecocks are 5-7 in the SEC as they try to dig out of a 1-5 start.
You can chalk up the Francis Marion loss to the old “that’s baseball” axiom, in that this game is such that those sorts of things can happen. But it seems, at this point, that USC will be battling to stay above .500 in the SEC all year. And while the Gamecocks have won back-to-back national titles, fighting for .500 in the league is not a foreign concept to their coach, Ray Tanner.
Last season, USC went 22-8 in the league. They year before: 21-9. But in the previous six seasons, starting with 2009, USC went: 17-13, 15-15, 17-13, 15-15, 16-14 and 17-13.
While only Tanner’s seniors will remember what it’s like to not mow through the league, Tanner has a deep memory to draw from as USC tries to navigate its way through the second half of the SEC schedule.
“You can go back a number of years to situations where wins were hard to come by,” he said. “If you hang in there and you finish strong, that’s what it’s all about, and that’s what we’re trying to do. We knew we had a young team, and we knew we were going to make some mistakes. I’m hoping that we make less down the back stretch here than we did in the beginning of the year.”
“Especially the older guys understand there’s some inexperience, some guys that are very talented but haven’t played. Although you may have enough ability, you do not have experience. You have to live with that a little bit. I think our older guys have done a good job of trying to help those young guys and being patient with them.”
The bottom line is, USC’s pitching has been “super” this season, as Tanner said, and he guessed that the pitching staff has put USC in position to win 28 or 30 of its 34 games. The defense: “Maybe not a Gold Glove-type team, but a solid defense,” he said. But the offense continues to be an issue.
Somebody asked Tanner the other day about why Kentucky is 30-4 and 9-3 in the SEC. That was a simple question for Tanner to answer.
“They’re having a lot of guys offensively that are having big years,” he said, recalling how he answered. “Lots of them. Not two or three. More like six or seven. And when you’ve got that kind of offense going, you’ve got a chance to support your pitching staff.”
Indeed, Kentucky leads the SEC with a .323 batting average – 10 points better than Mississippi.
Things get no easier for USC in Friday night’s Mississippi State series opener, as the Bulldogs will throw right-hander Chris Stratton, who is 7-0 with a 2.54 ERA, 67 strikeouts and 15 walks.
“He’s had some really special games,” Tanner said. “Looking back at our line against him last year, it was actually pretty good. He’s been a little bit different this year. He’s had some dominating performances, some games where he’s gone deep with a lot of strikeouts. When you’re not putting the ball in play, there’s less chances. He’s emerged as one of the top guys in our conference, a power arm, two breaking balls and can get to the mid-90s.”
Regarding what Tanner said about USC hitting Stratton: Last year in Starkville, USC won the series opener 8-2 and hammered Stratton for seven runs (five earned) in five innings. But as Tanner mentioned, he is much better this season as a junior than he was as a sophomore, when he went 5-7 and had a 5.21 ERA.
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Tanner will once again send freshman lefty Jordan Montgomery out for the Saturday game, and hope Montgomery will continue to cement himself as the No. 2 starter by following up on his gem of a performance last weekend against Tennessee, in his first SEC start. So far, Tanner has admired the way Montgomery seems to ignore pressure.
“I think he’s one of those guys that just focuses on what he can do,” Tanner said. “I don’t think he gets too far ahead of himself, and sometimes that’s of great value. He’s earned an opportunity to be out there. Would I love for him to go eight innings again (like he did against Tennessee)? Sure, I would. But if he can get us to the middle of the game, he will have done his job.”
Tanner gave Montgomery some high praise by comparing what he did last weekend to the freshman year performances of Kip Bouknight, who was a freshman in 1998, Tanner’s second season, and had a 6-1 average and 2.21 ERA that season. In 2000, he won the Golden Spikes Award (best amateur player in the country) – still the only USC player to win it – and finished his career with a 45-12 record. He holds the school record for most career wins.
So yeah, mentioning Montgomery in the same breath as Bouknight is pretty heavy stuff.
“It kind of brought back some memories of Kip Bouknight when he was a freshman and some of the games that he had,” Tanner said of Montgomery’s gem against Tennessee. “And Kip had a bunch of them. I hope Jordan has some in his tank now. Kip kind of burst onto the scene, had been in the bullpen at the very beginning and then gave us some great starts throughout the rest of the year. Hopefully that can happen. But even still, he’s done a nice job for a freshman and he deserves an opportunity to pitch in the SEC weekend against Mississippi State.”
Tanner had some interesting things to say about what makes Montgomery so effective, particularly with his control (27 strikeouts and two walks in 30 innings).
“He repeats his motion,” Tanner said. “He’s got an easy delivery. He doesn’t try to do too much. He’s not a violent-type delivery person that sometimes you’ll see from a young guy. For a guy without a lot of experience, he kind of remains composed. He doesn’t rush. A lot of times, young pitchers will rush. They’ll try to do too much. They’ll try to create things. And he hasn’t done that.
“That’s really the kind of temperament he has as a person. He’s kind of easy going and takes it as it comes. Maybe those assets are good for him as a pitcher. We thought he was going to be pretty good for us and we’re certainly happy with where he is and hope that he has some good ones left in him for the rest of the year.”
Montgomery was asked if his success has surprised him. (Remember, the guy was a pretty darn good high school pitcher and was the South Carolina state player of the year in 2011.)
“I guess so,” he said. “It’s a good thing. I wasn’t really expecting it, but I knew I could get out there and do it.”
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Back to hitting, or lack thereof. LB Dantzler and Adam Matthews have both struggled at the plate this season. Matthews ranks last among USC regulars with a .221 batting average, while Dantzler is second to last (.227). But in SEC games, Matthews leads the team with a .308 average, while Dantzler ranks last among regulars (.214).
Dantzler said he is “just getting myself out, not swinging at the pitches I should be swinging at, or not taking good swings. They really preach, for me specifically, not getting to two strikes. With me, coach Tanner said the statistics are something like with two strikes you’re a .190 hitter or a .180 hitter. I’ve just got to take advantage earlier in the count and I’ve been missing some pitches I shouldn’t be missing.”
Matthews, meanwhile, is starting to feel things come together.
“Honestly, especially the past couple weeks, I’ve felt like I’ve made a lot of progress,” he said. “I understand my average is not where it should be. It’s not where I want it to be. It’s not where the coaching staff and everyone else expects it to be. I understand that. Baseball, it’s a numbers game, but it’s also about having quality at-bats, doing the small things the right way, and I think I’ve had some good quality at-bats over the past couple weeks.
“That’s my main goal is to every day come out here each at-bat and try to have a quality at-bat. Don’t go up there and take two strikes and end up striking or having a weak ground ball. Try to take your swings early in the count and try to learn from what I did earlier in the year. Ever since the Florida series, I feel like I’m finding where I’m supposed to be. You can’t just sit back and keep telling yourself, ‘I’m in a deep hole here.’
“I wish I was playing better at times, of course. I know that better than anybody. I know that I’m capable of doing more than most people think.”
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Finally, Tanner has an interesting situation at second base. Chase Vergason, who began the year as the starter there, is a very good defender, but hasn’t hit well (.194). Erik Payne, who replaced Vergason, isn’t a natural second baseman, but is hitting .290.
Payne started 17 straight games at second before Vergason returned to the spot earlier this month at the College of Charleston. All told, Payne has started 20 games, Vergason nine. Vergason started two more after the Charleston game, but Payne has started the past two.
“I’m probably going to hang with (Payne) to an extent,” Tanner said. “I’ve got to give Chase Vergason some opportunities as well. Chase’s numbers, if you look at the batting average, is not all that impressive. But his on-base percentage is impressive (.395, compared to Payne’s .316).
“He does a little better job (than Payne) of being a middle infielder and anchoring the defense as far as being a captain out there. He kind of understands the alignment and what we’re trying to do. That’s a benefit to us as well.”
link: http://www.postandco...mentId=blogDest
Here are a few stats and items that didn’t make their way into the preview story ..
.
USC enters this series having pitched well all year – a 2.86 team earned-run average (second in the SEC). Mississippi State is right behind the Gamecocks – 2.93. Both teams are hitting about the same, too -- .274 for USC, .273 for the Bulldogs, which rank eighth and ninth in the league.
USC couldn’t get enough offense going, once again, in Wednesday’s 5-4 loss at Division II Francis Marion. The Gamecocks are 5-7 in the SEC as they try to dig out of a 1-5 start.
You can chalk up the Francis Marion loss to the old “that’s baseball” axiom, in that this game is such that those sorts of things can happen. But it seems, at this point, that USC will be battling to stay above .500 in the SEC all year. And while the Gamecocks have won back-to-back national titles, fighting for .500 in the league is not a foreign concept to their coach, Ray Tanner.
Last season, USC went 22-8 in the league. They year before: 21-9. But in the previous six seasons, starting with 2009, USC went: 17-13, 15-15, 17-13, 15-15, 16-14 and 17-13.
While only Tanner’s seniors will remember what it’s like to not mow through the league, Tanner has a deep memory to draw from as USC tries to navigate its way through the second half of the SEC schedule.
“You can go back a number of years to situations where wins were hard to come by,” he said. “If you hang in there and you finish strong, that’s what it’s all about, and that’s what we’re trying to do. We knew we had a young team, and we knew we were going to make some mistakes. I’m hoping that we make less down the back stretch here than we did in the beginning of the year.”
“Especially the older guys understand there’s some inexperience, some guys that are very talented but haven’t played. Although you may have enough ability, you do not have experience. You have to live with that a little bit. I think our older guys have done a good job of trying to help those young guys and being patient with them.”
The bottom line is, USC’s pitching has been “super” this season, as Tanner said, and he guessed that the pitching staff has put USC in position to win 28 or 30 of its 34 games. The defense: “Maybe not a Gold Glove-type team, but a solid defense,” he said. But the offense continues to be an issue.
Somebody asked Tanner the other day about why Kentucky is 30-4 and 9-3 in the SEC. That was a simple question for Tanner to answer.
“They’re having a lot of guys offensively that are having big years,” he said, recalling how he answered. “Lots of them. Not two or three. More like six or seven. And when you’ve got that kind of offense going, you’ve got a chance to support your pitching staff.”
Indeed, Kentucky leads the SEC with a .323 batting average – 10 points better than Mississippi.
Things get no easier for USC in Friday night’s Mississippi State series opener, as the Bulldogs will throw right-hander Chris Stratton, who is 7-0 with a 2.54 ERA, 67 strikeouts and 15 walks.
“He’s had some really special games,” Tanner said. “Looking back at our line against him last year, it was actually pretty good. He’s been a little bit different this year. He’s had some dominating performances, some games where he’s gone deep with a lot of strikeouts. When you’re not putting the ball in play, there’s less chances. He’s emerged as one of the top guys in our conference, a power arm, two breaking balls and can get to the mid-90s.”
Regarding what Tanner said about USC hitting Stratton: Last year in Starkville, USC won the series opener 8-2 and hammered Stratton for seven runs (five earned) in five innings. But as Tanner mentioned, he is much better this season as a junior than he was as a sophomore, when he went 5-7 and had a 5.21 ERA.
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Tanner will once again send freshman lefty Jordan Montgomery out for the Saturday game, and hope Montgomery will continue to cement himself as the No. 2 starter by following up on his gem of a performance last weekend against Tennessee, in his first SEC start. So far, Tanner has admired the way Montgomery seems to ignore pressure.
“I think he’s one of those guys that just focuses on what he can do,” Tanner said. “I don’t think he gets too far ahead of himself, and sometimes that’s of great value. He’s earned an opportunity to be out there. Would I love for him to go eight innings again (like he did against Tennessee)? Sure, I would. But if he can get us to the middle of the game, he will have done his job.”
Tanner gave Montgomery some high praise by comparing what he did last weekend to the freshman year performances of Kip Bouknight, who was a freshman in 1998, Tanner’s second season, and had a 6-1 average and 2.21 ERA that season. In 2000, he won the Golden Spikes Award (best amateur player in the country) – still the only USC player to win it – and finished his career with a 45-12 record. He holds the school record for most career wins.
So yeah, mentioning Montgomery in the same breath as Bouknight is pretty heavy stuff.
“It kind of brought back some memories of Kip Bouknight when he was a freshman and some of the games that he had,” Tanner said of Montgomery’s gem against Tennessee. “And Kip had a bunch of them. I hope Jordan has some in his tank now. Kip kind of burst onto the scene, had been in the bullpen at the very beginning and then gave us some great starts throughout the rest of the year. Hopefully that can happen. But even still, he’s done a nice job for a freshman and he deserves an opportunity to pitch in the SEC weekend against Mississippi State.”
Tanner had some interesting things to say about what makes Montgomery so effective, particularly with his control (27 strikeouts and two walks in 30 innings).
“He repeats his motion,” Tanner said. “He’s got an easy delivery. He doesn’t try to do too much. He’s not a violent-type delivery person that sometimes you’ll see from a young guy. For a guy without a lot of experience, he kind of remains composed. He doesn’t rush. A lot of times, young pitchers will rush. They’ll try to do too much. They’ll try to create things. And he hasn’t done that.
“That’s really the kind of temperament he has as a person. He’s kind of easy going and takes it as it comes. Maybe those assets are good for him as a pitcher. We thought he was going to be pretty good for us and we’re certainly happy with where he is and hope that he has some good ones left in him for the rest of the year.”
Montgomery was asked if his success has surprised him. (Remember, the guy was a pretty darn good high school pitcher and was the South Carolina state player of the year in 2011.)
“I guess so,” he said. “It’s a good thing. I wasn’t really expecting it, but I knew I could get out there and do it.”
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Back to hitting, or lack thereof. LB Dantzler and Adam Matthews have both struggled at the plate this season. Matthews ranks last among USC regulars with a .221 batting average, while Dantzler is second to last (.227). But in SEC games, Matthews leads the team with a .308 average, while Dantzler ranks last among regulars (.214).
Dantzler said he is “just getting myself out, not swinging at the pitches I should be swinging at, or not taking good swings. They really preach, for me specifically, not getting to two strikes. With me, coach Tanner said the statistics are something like with two strikes you’re a .190 hitter or a .180 hitter. I’ve just got to take advantage earlier in the count and I’ve been missing some pitches I shouldn’t be missing.”
Matthews, meanwhile, is starting to feel things come together.
“Honestly, especially the past couple weeks, I’ve felt like I’ve made a lot of progress,” he said. “I understand my average is not where it should be. It’s not where I want it to be. It’s not where the coaching staff and everyone else expects it to be. I understand that. Baseball, it’s a numbers game, but it’s also about having quality at-bats, doing the small things the right way, and I think I’ve had some good quality at-bats over the past couple weeks.
“That’s my main goal is to every day come out here each at-bat and try to have a quality at-bat. Don’t go up there and take two strikes and end up striking or having a weak ground ball. Try to take your swings early in the count and try to learn from what I did earlier in the year. Ever since the Florida series, I feel like I’m finding where I’m supposed to be. You can’t just sit back and keep telling yourself, ‘I’m in a deep hole here.’
“I wish I was playing better at times, of course. I know that better than anybody. I know that I’m capable of doing more than most people think.”
---
Finally, Tanner has an interesting situation at second base. Chase Vergason, who began the year as the starter there, is a very good defender, but hasn’t hit well (.194). Erik Payne, who replaced Vergason, isn’t a natural second baseman, but is hitting .290.
Payne started 17 straight games at second before Vergason returned to the spot earlier this month at the College of Charleston. All told, Payne has started 20 games, Vergason nine. Vergason started two more after the Charleston game, but Payne has started the past two.
“I’m probably going to hang with (Payne) to an extent,” Tanner said. “I’ve got to give Chase Vergason some opportunities as well. Chase’s numbers, if you look at the batting average, is not all that impressive. But his on-base percentage is impressive (.395, compared to Payne’s .316).
“He does a little better job (than Payne) of being a middle infielder and anchoring the defense as far as being a captain out there. He kind of understands the alignment and what we’re trying to do. That’s a benefit to us as well.”
link: http://www.postandco...mentId=blogDest
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