Broom-tastic
posted by David Cloninger, 5/03/2009 08:55:00 PM
---------------------------- ALICE IN CHAINS
Suddenly, it’s not such a bad thing to be around the South Carolina baseball team.
You should have been there, at Florida’s McKethan Stadium last week. Ray Tanner sat in the visitors’ dugout, seconds after the Gators completed a three-game sweep, and struggled to put on a brave face.
I can’t recall another time in the past 13 years I’ve ever seen that look of defeat on the man’s face. He’s always had the answers before, and the frustration of not finding one to help out this year’s team was painfully telling.
“We didn’t help ourselves this weekend, for sure,” he said then. “We didn’t have to come down here and win all three but we needed to win at least one to stay in the hunt. Three-game swing for us -- .500 coming in, now we’re three games down.”
Seven days later, he sat in Carolina Stadium’s media room and showed all his teeth. It may not have been Easter Sunday but the Gamecocks seem to be resurrected.
“It was a great weekend for us,” Tanner said following USC’s three-game sweep of Vanderbilt. “I guess that’d be the biggest understatement of anything I could say.”
The Gamecocks are alive. They may not be challenging for the SEC championship (more on that later) or making themselves a bet to host an NCAA Regional, but they’re back to .500 in the league and off to an outstanding start in the 11-game season that will define them.
“Getting a sweep is clutch,” winning pitcher Blake Cooper said on Sunday. “It puts us back at 12-12, back at .500.”
Can USC win the SEC championship? Yes. Is that realistic? No.
But the sweep of Vandy is huge for confidence. The Gamecocks leaped into third place in the SEC East by two games and hold the tiebreaker over the fourth-place Commodores. USC gets to play East-worst Tennessee next, which while not a gimme, is a distance akin to the one between my best friend and Jessica Alba from playing first-place LSU.
What they need to do is win at least three of their final six SEC games. That guarantees at least a .500 record in SEC play and most likely a spot in the SEC tournament, which should preview a trip to the NCAA Regionals. Winning all of their final eight games only sweetens the deal – an 11-game winning streak puts USC right back in the picture to host a Regional.
The Gamecocks did everything they needed to do. For the first time all year, they had solid pitching for an entire weekend. Of course it wasn’t perfect – teams with collective ERAs over 5.00 do not suddenly turn into the staff of the 1971 Baltimore Orioles – but it was more than enough to win, especially when the offense played three consistent games.
Led by the top four hitters in the order, the Gamecocks hammered Vandy for 42 hits and 33 runs. They smacked 10 home runs during the series and everybody contributed.
Best of all, the smiles and the high-fives were back in the dugout. They’d never completely disappeared, but a congratulatory pat on the fanny after a home run cut your team’s deficit to eight is miles from the excited burst to swallow DeAngelo Mack when he cranked the second of his two Saturday dingers.
Apparently, the Gamecocks didn’t have any extra pep talks or players-only meetings or ritual burnings. They just studied for the exam period, got it done and showed up at the ballpark ready to work.
“A week ago, we were getting on a bus not feeling very good and tonight we’re feeling pretty good about our weekend,” Tanner said.
Why not? Hope is back in the clubhouse. It may only last until Wednesday or Friday, but the Gamecocks are back to not wishing they can win, but knowing they can.
I do feel bad for some folks, though. All the people who complained that Tanner had lost his touch and that the Gamecocks had given up on the season now don’t have anything to whine about for a whole week.
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“Ain’t found a way to kill me yet.”
---------------------------- ALICE IN CHAINS
Suddenly, it’s not such a bad thing to be around the South Carolina baseball team.
You should have been there, at Florida’s McKethan Stadium last week. Ray Tanner sat in the visitors’ dugout, seconds after the Gators completed a three-game sweep, and struggled to put on a brave face.
I can’t recall another time in the past 13 years I’ve ever seen that look of defeat on the man’s face. He’s always had the answers before, and the frustration of not finding one to help out this year’s team was painfully telling.
“We didn’t help ourselves this weekend, for sure,” he said then. “We didn’t have to come down here and win all three but we needed to win at least one to stay in the hunt. Three-game swing for us -- .500 coming in, now we’re three games down.”
Seven days later, he sat in Carolina Stadium’s media room and showed all his teeth. It may not have been Easter Sunday but the Gamecocks seem to be resurrected.
“It was a great weekend for us,” Tanner said following USC’s three-game sweep of Vanderbilt. “I guess that’d be the biggest understatement of anything I could say.”
The Gamecocks are alive. They may not be challenging for the SEC championship (more on that later) or making themselves a bet to host an NCAA Regional, but they’re back to .500 in the league and off to an outstanding start in the 11-game season that will define them.
“Getting a sweep is clutch,” winning pitcher Blake Cooper said on Sunday. “It puts us back at 12-12, back at .500.”
Can USC win the SEC championship? Yes. Is that realistic? No.
But the sweep of Vandy is huge for confidence. The Gamecocks leaped into third place in the SEC East by two games and hold the tiebreaker over the fourth-place Commodores. USC gets to play East-worst Tennessee next, which while not a gimme, is a distance akin to the one between my best friend and Jessica Alba from playing first-place LSU.
What they need to do is win at least three of their final six SEC games. That guarantees at least a .500 record in SEC play and most likely a spot in the SEC tournament, which should preview a trip to the NCAA Regionals. Winning all of their final eight games only sweetens the deal – an 11-game winning streak puts USC right back in the picture to host a Regional.
The Gamecocks did everything they needed to do. For the first time all year, they had solid pitching for an entire weekend. Of course it wasn’t perfect – teams with collective ERAs over 5.00 do not suddenly turn into the staff of the 1971 Baltimore Orioles – but it was more than enough to win, especially when the offense played three consistent games.
Led by the top four hitters in the order, the Gamecocks hammered Vandy for 42 hits and 33 runs. They smacked 10 home runs during the series and everybody contributed.
Best of all, the smiles and the high-fives were back in the dugout. They’d never completely disappeared, but a congratulatory pat on the fanny after a home run cut your team’s deficit to eight is miles from the excited burst to swallow DeAngelo Mack when he cranked the second of his two Saturday dingers.
Apparently, the Gamecocks didn’t have any extra pep talks or players-only meetings or ritual burnings. They just studied for the exam period, got it done and showed up at the ballpark ready to work.
“A week ago, we were getting on a bus not feeling very good and tonight we’re feeling pretty good about our weekend,” Tanner said.
Why not? Hope is back in the clubhouse. It may only last until Wednesday or Friday, but the Gamecocks are back to not wishing they can win, but knowing they can.
I do feel bad for some folks, though. All the people who complained that Tanner had lost his touch and that the Gamecocks had given up on the season now don’t have anything to whine about for a whole week.
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David Cloninger. David is a full-time staff writer for GamecockCentral, and covers Gamecock football, men's basketball, baseball and recruiting. He may be reached by email at david(at)gamecockcentral.com. Replace (at) with @.