The Cal baseball team has a 50-50 shot in facing South Carolina in their second game. There will be more thorough previews of the Gamecocks, but here are the basics of what you need to know about South Carolina's baseball team.
- They went 5-0 in the regional/super-regional rounds.
- Michael Roth is their best pitcher by miles (an ERA around 1), but he will almost certainly be playing in the opening game and will not match up with the Bears.
- South Carolina does have a solid bullpen and two decent starters in Forrest Koumas and Colby Holmes (both with sub-4 ERAs), so this might be a blessing in disguise.
- These pitchers draw a lot of walks though, which could be their undoing in close games. The walk is generally a killer.
- South Carolina's starters don't have much pop in their bats. But they all have batting averages over .250, OBP averages over .350, and slugging percentages over .380. They're good at drawing walks, and making contact with the ball with singles and doubles. They have only one batter (infielder Christian Walker) that topped double-digit home runs. Almost any team without dominant pitching will find themselves in a bit of a pickle trying to keep the game close against them.
Texas A&M is likely to be the underdog in their matchup due to Roth, so Cal will probably have to upset Virginia to see them in their second game. Like I said though, you might as well flip a coin to figure out who we face next.
How do you feel about South Carolina's chances to win it all? Will they make it out of their bracket? Let us know in the comments!
To keep track of South Carolina baseball, stay tuned to Garnet and Black Attack. For more coverage of Cal baseball, head to the California Golden Blogs.