By Sinderella
South Carolina was looking to bounce back after dropping their SEC opening series versus an Ole Miss team they expected to beat. The issue was their next opponent was a red-hot Vanderbilt team that just swept a top 25 Auburn team and came into the series as the #3 team in the country. Well, South Carolina didn't care about any of that, as they dominated Vanderbilt every game of the series.
Vanderbilt was just outmatched and outclassed in this series. The usual great defense struggled to get routine outs all weekend long. The bats went ice cold as well. Vanderbilt came in the series hitting .326 through 22 games and left hitting .162 for the series. They averaged 9 runs a game. South Carolina held them to 3 runs a game. The pitching and hitting for South Carolina both had season highs in performance in this series.
Can we take a second to talk about Tyler Pitzer? If you follow me on X you know I've been hyping him up all season long. When I saw he was getting the ball for Sunday's game I was over the moon excited. At the same time I was nervous, he is a true freshman getting his first career start versus a desperate #3 Vanderbilt team that hits for a great average. Pitzer quickly shut that and the Commodores lineup down as he struck out 2 batters in the first inning. He would end up striking out 9 players through 6.1IP with only allowing 3H and 0ER. Pitzer had an incredible first start and I expect him to get the ball next Saturday versus Alabama, another very good hitting team.
The pitching with Eli Jones and Tyler Pitzer leading the way weren't the only things that were red hot. The bats for South Carolina were on fire as they put up 26 runs over the 3-game series. The long ball for which South Carolina was know for last season and we expected to see a lot of this season found it's way back to the Gamecocks as they hit 7 over the final 2 games of the series. If it wasn't for some harsh winds during game 1 we could have seen a few more.
This South Carolina team needed to win this series and have a great offensive performance, not only for the fans sake, but to build confidence within the program that they can compete and are good enough. Like I said in my last write-up, this South Carolina seems to have found something offensively and that they have. Ethan Petry and Cole Messina were hitting like they did last season. If those two can hit, the whole lineup will hit. You couple a high-octane offense with one of the elite pitching staffs in the country and you have a team that is back on track with what many believe they would do, make Omaha.
(All pictures courtesy of @GamecockBll)
*****
Comentários