Look Back, Look Ahead: Gamecocks eye rebound; Morris debuts Tuesday
Hoping South Carolina captures some of its old spark, coach Chad Holbrook had decided to turn to a new face.
Highly-touted in high school when he was rated one of the top 75 prospects in the country, 6-foot-4 redshirt freshman RHP Cody Morris from Laurel, MD is slated to make his Gamecocks debut Tuesday night when USC faces The Citadel at Founders Park in a 7 p.m. matchup.
Possessing an electric fastball and a solid changeup, Morris redshirted in 2016 after undergoing Tommy John surgery. He was drafted in the 32nd round of the 2015 MLB Draft by the home state Baltimore Orioles.
Morris and Wil Crowe, who underwent Tommy John surgery at approximately the same time, rehabbed side-by-side for months.
“They fed off each other and worked extremely hard,” Holbrook said recently. “They were pals in the weight room. Their rehab was pretty much on the same timeframe. Their surgeries were about a week apart. They pushed each other. We’re excited to put Cody out there.”
Morris was the 2014 Gatorade Player of the Year in Maryland. As a Reservoir High senior in 2015, he was 0-0 with 26 strikeouts in 12.0 innings before his injury. As a junior, he was 8-1 with a 0.99 ERA and 88 strikeouts, and led his school to the Class 3A state championship by firing a complete game two-hit shutout in the finals.
The Gamecocks need a good performance from Morris to help ease the pain of this past weekend’s stunning series loss to rival Clemson. After posting a 2-0 victory Friday night at Doug Kingsmore Stadium, the Gamecocks allowed late inning leads slip through their grasp both Saturday and Sunday in closes losses.
“We just have to forget about it and get back to the fundamentals like getting bunts down,” Matt Williams said. “In the last two games (vs. Clemson), we didn’t execute like we needed to when we trying to get runners into scoring position.”
With five home games on the docket this week, the Gamecocks clearly need something good to happen over the next few days in order for the players to move on mentally from the Clemson series.
“There’s a lot of baseball to be played,” Holbrook said. “We lost the battle this (past) weekend, but maybe we’ll win the war. The last thing we’re going to do around here is fold up the tent. They don’t give championships in March. We have a lot to play for and we have a lot of important baseball games in front of us.
“Our hearts were ripped out of our chest (Sunday), but our players are resilient. They have character. I expect nothing less. They’ll bounce back and be ready to go Tuesday night. I’m quite sure they want to get that sour taste out of their mouth. Everything we want to play for is still in front of us.”
NOTES:
-- The Citadel enters Tuesday night’s contest with a 3-7 record on the year. Fred Jordan is in his 26th season as head coach of the Bulldogs’ program. Sophomore OF Taylor Cothran is The Citadel’s leading hitter with a .320 batting average (8-for-25) and a .393 on-base percentage. Junior INF Jonathan Sabo is also producing early with a .293 average (12-for-41) with seven runs scored, three doubles and a pair of RBI. The Citadel’s top reliever is senior right-hander Aaron Lesiak, who is 1-0 with a 1.29 ERA in seven relief appearances.
-- Since ‘Carolina Calls with Dawn Staley’ airs Tuesday between 7 and 8 p.m., the USC-The Citadel baseball game will be broadcast locally on 1320 AM. Upon conclusion of Carolina Calls, the Gamecock Radio Network and all affiliates including flagship station 107.5 FM will join the game in progress starting at 8 p.m.
-- The Gamecocks dropped the series to Clemson despite limiting Clemson to just a .221 team batting average in the three games, allowing 13 runs on 23 hits in 29.0 innings of work. Collectively, USC has a team ERA of 2.86 with 79 hits allowed and 124 strikeouts in 110.0 IP. Opponents are hitting .198 against the Gamecocks, lowest in the SEC. USC ranks 11th nationally in hits allowed per nine innings (6.46).
-- Clarke Schmidt has a 0.48 ERA in three starts totaling 18.2 IP. He has allowed just 11 hits and four runs (1 earned) with 19 strikeouts and 10 walks. Opponents are hitting .164 against him.
-- After stranding 15 runners in Sunday’s 5-3 extra-inning loss to Clemson, the Gamecocks are now averaging 7.92 LOB through the first 12 games.
-- Williams is off to a torrid start at the plate with a team-high .394 batting average (13-33). He hit .417 (5-for-12) against Clemson. Williams currently owns a career-high 10-game hitting streak. He has four runs scored and five RBI with a team-high .487 on-base percentage.
-- Alex Destino is hitting .295 (13-for-44) with a pair of homers and team-high 10 RBI. He is tied for the team lead in doubles with three. One of the few negatives on Destino’s stat line is the high number of strikeouts (12 in 44 AB).
-- Three of catcher Hunter Taylor’s four hits have been doubles. He is batting .333 with a .583 slugging pct.
LAST WEEK’S RESULTS:
Feb. 28 vs. Appalachian State, W 8-4
March 3 at Clemson, W 2-0
March 4 vs. Clemson (at Greenville), L 8-7
March 5 vs. Clemson, L 5-3
THIS WEEK’S SCHEDULE:
Tuesday vs. The Citadel, 7 p.m.
Wednesday vs. Winthrop, 7 p.m.
Friday vs. Michigan State, 7 p.m.
Saturday vs. Michigan State, 4 p.m.
Sunday vs. Michigan State, 1:30 p.m.
(All times Eastern)
