Baseball: Gamecocks host Michigan St. in weekend series
WHAT: Michigan State (9-2) at South Carolina (9-5)
WHERE: Founders Park (8,242), Columbia, SC
RADIO/TV: SEC Network Plus (Burch Antley and Trey Dyson); Gamecock Radio Network (107.5 FM in Columbia with Tommy Moody & Brad Muller).
PROBABLE STARTING PITCHERS:
Friday: USC Jr. RHP Clarke Schmidt (2-0, 0.48 ERA, 18.2 IP) vs. MSU So. LHP Alex Troop (2-0, 1.80 ERA, 15.0 IP)
Saturday: USC RJr. RHP Wil Crowe (2-0, 2.60 ERA, 17.1 IP) vs. MSU Jr. RHP Ethan Landon (0-0, 6.75 ERA, 10.2 IP)
Sunday: USC So. RHP Adam Hill (0-2, 1.56 ERA, 17.1 IP) vs. MSU Jr. RHP Andrew Gonzalez (1-0, 5.00 ERA, 9.0 IP)
The SEC-Big Ten rivalry extends across many sports and this weekend it will manifest itself at Founders Park with a three-game series between the Gamecocks and Spartans.
For USC, the emergence of other relief pitchers in addition to the ‘Big Three’ of Tyler Johnson, Reed Scott and Josh Reagan has been one of the week’s positive development for the Gamecocks.
Tuesday, Graham Lawson and John Parke combined for eight strikeouts and seven hits allowed in 6.0 innings after taking over for starter Cody Morris, who made his Gamecock debut in USC’s 12-5 victory over The Citadel.
The following night, freshman Colby Lee debuted with 3.2 effective innings after unexpectedly taking over for starter Brandon Murray in the top of the first after Murray was able to retire just one of the seven Winthrop batters he faced before being lifted.
Scott hurled the final 5.0 innings, allowing just four hits and one run in a bounce-back performance after struggling against Clemson in last weekend’s Palmetto series.
“Colby Lee has a great arm and it was his first time out there,” Chad Holbrook said Wednesday night following the comeback win over Winthrop. “He made some pitches that were extremely important when the game could have gotten away from us. I’m proud of Colby. And Reed was fantastic at the end. We faced aversity and it was an important win for us.”
Even though it was just one appearance, Lee demonstrated in his first career outing that he has the physical and mental makeup to become a possible weekend starter in future seasons.
Lee, a Latta High graduate, was rated the No. 10 high school prospect overall and the fourth best high school right-handed pitcher in the Palmetto State by Perfect Game. He was the 2016 Class A Player of the Year in South Carolina and the Florence (SC) Morning News Player of the Year.
As a senior at Latta, Lee was 10-1 with a 1.02 ERA and 94 strikeouts in 72.0 innings pitched. He was also Latta’s starting quarterback in football.
“He’s a fresh arm and he has a good arm,” Holbrook said. “He needed to get out there. Whoever we put out there other than Reed after Brandon was going to be a new guy. We felt like he was ready to go. He was in the conversation to start the game. He was next in line. He threw extremely well.”
NOTES
-- Weather Forecast: Temperatures are expected to be warm for the series opener on Friday night (partly summer, 78 degrees) before getting progressively colder as the weekend end goes long. Sunday’s forecast is dicey – High of 44 degrees with an 80 percent chance of rain.
-- Junior 1B Matt Williams carries a career-high 12-game hitting streak into the Michigan State series. For the season, he is batting .410 (16-for-39) with a pair of doubles, five runs scored and seven RBI. He has a .500 on-base percentage. Williams has put together four straight multi-hit games (Saturday and Sunday vs. Clemson, vs. The Citadel and vs. Winthrop). Williams is ninth in the SEC in hitting and 10th in on-base percentage.
-- Freshman Carlos Cortes delivered a sacrifice fly in a key spot in Wednesday night’s win over Winthrop. He is batting just .217 with two RBI, but has shown signs of rising above his early season doldrums. “Carlos is getting a little more confident in his swing,” Holbrook said. “He is going to get a lot of plate appearances over the next several games. I like the way he is swinging the bat. You can see the light is coming on and he is happy. He has been struggling and been down in the dumps, but he’s walking with a pep in his step. That bodes well for our offense.”
-- Eight different Gamecock players have hit in the second spot of the batting order in the first 14 games. Just three players have hit in the second spot multiple times – Justin Row (4), Jonah Bride (3), TJ Hopkins (2). The latter has settled into the leadoff spot.
-- The three-game weekend series wraps up Michigan State’s week-long spring break trip to the Palmetto State. They began the trip last weekend in the Upstate and played three games at Fluor Field in Greenville. They swept the First Pitch Invitational, beating Furman (3-2), Presbyterian (10-2) and UT Martin (6-1). The Spartan suffered their only loss of the week on Wednesday to Clemson at Fluor Field (9-2).
-- Michigan State is averaging a Big Ten best 9.1 runs per game with 100 runs scored through the first 11 games. The Spartans have a team batting average of .329 with seven regular starters hitting above .300 going into the weekend series.
-- Why did Michigan State play three games at Fluor Field? Greenville Drive Owner/President Craig Brown is a MSU alum.
PROJECTED STARTING LINEUP:
C – Chris Cullen (.273)
1B – Matt Williams (.410)
2B – L.T. Tolbert (.308)
3B – Jonah Bride (.265)
SS – Madison Stokes (.220)
LF – Danny Blair (.267)
CF – T.J. Hopkins (.306)
RF – Jacob Olson (.300)
DH – Alex Destino (.294)
SEC BASEBALL SCHEDULE (March 10-12)
Michigan State at South Carolina
Presbyterian at Auburn
Rhode Island at Arkansas
Miami (OH) at Kentucky
St. Mary’s at Vanderbilt
Rider at Georgia
Cincinnati at Tennessee
Seton Hall at Florida
Arkansas-Pine Bluff at Alabama
Furman at Ole Miss
Appalachian State at Missouri
Brown at Texas A&M
Wichita State at LSU
South Alabama/Columbia at Mississippi State
(All 3-game series unless otherwise noted)
