LB Dantzler celebrates after his second homer of the day gave Carolina the lead in the bottom of the eighth.

After being swept last weekend by Arkansas, South Carolina returned the favor to the Aggies today, topping them 6-4 for the sweep.

The Gamecocks first got on the board in the second inning. After Chase Vergason got a booboo and a free base with two outs and then made it to second on a balk, DH George Iskenderian knocked a single to put the home team up 1-0.

Texas A&M didn’t trail for long, though. Cole Lankford led off the fourth inning with a base hit, Troy Stein laid down a bunt single, and Brandon Wood put down a sac bunt to advance the runners. Charlie Curl then reached base on a fielding error by Joey Pankake and Lankford came home to tie the game. Mikey Reynolds hit a sac fly to get Stein in and put the Aggies up 2-1. Texas A&M had a chance to really do some damage, but they left the bases loaded instead.

That lead didn’t last very long, though, as LB Dantzler went yard to start the bottom of the inning and tie the game at 2-2. Both teams were quiet until the bottom of the sixth inning, when Bright took a page out of Dantzler’s book and launched a bomb to left that put the Yardcocks up 3-2.

The Aggies responded in the next inning and tied things up yet again. Krey Bratsen led off with a single, then stole second and moved to third on a sac bunt from Blake Allemand. Mitchell Nau grounded out to get Bratsen home and make it 3-3.

Texas A&M couldn’t manage to get anything else going for the rest of the game, but Carolina still had a little bit of offense left in them. In the bottom of the eighth, Dantzler tattooed another ball for his second home run of the day. Bright followed that with a double, and Vergason got plunked again to put runners on first and second. With two outs, Dante Rosenberg came through with a RBI double that made it 6-3 Gamecocks. Wood also lost the ball in the sun, which was certainly helpful.

» Continue reading “Dantzler, Bright Homer As Cocks Sweep Texas A&M”

Nolan Belcher: kinda good at this pitching thing.

After being swept in a conference series last weekend, South Carolina has the opportunity to do some sweeping of their own this weekend, thanks to tonight’s 6-4 win over Texas A&M.

USC starter Nolan Belcher sent the Aggies down in order with three straight strikeouts to begin the game, then the Cocks got on the board quickly, putting up five runs in the bottom of the first inning.

Graham Saiko led off with a walk, then stole second on a wild pitch. Max Schrock followed that with a walk of his own and Joey Pankake reached first on a fielder’s choice to put runners on the corners with one out. LB Dantzler and Connor Bright came through with back-to-back RBI singles, and with the bases loaded, Grayson Greiner walked to make it 3-0 Carolina. Dantzler’s RBI was his 30th of the season.

That ended Texas A&M pitcher Kyle Martin’s night right before he got to pitch to South Carolina’s Kyle Martin, which was obviously disappointing. Matt Kent took over the pitching duties and after Martin lined out, Tanner English knocked a double that brought in two runs and made it 5-0 Yardcocks. Greiner, ignoring a stop sign from Sammy Esposito at third, attempted to make it home on the hit, but he was out. He also didn’t slide, which upset coach Chad Holbrook so much that he told reporters after the game that if any player on his team does that again, they’ll be out of the game and he’ll donate a month’s salary to the children’s hospital.

The Aggies put up their first run in the top of the fourth inning. Mikey Reynolds started things off with a single, then moved to second on an error by Saiko. With one out, Reynolds advanced to third and Blake Allemand reached first on another error, this time on a throw from Pankake to Dantzler. Troy Stein then hit into a fielder’s choice and Reynolds came home. Texas A&M had a chance to add more runs, but they couldn’t capitalize and had to settle for just one.

The Gamecocks answered and scored their final run in the bottom of the inning. English led off with a single, but was then picked off when he tried to steal second. Saiko followed that with a base hit of his own, then moved to second on a groundout by Schrock. Pankake came through with a single to bring Saiko in and make it 6-1 in favor of the home team.

» Continue reading “Gamecocks Beat Aggies 6-4, Clinch Series”

Two quick bits of news today:

1) Gamecocks third baseman LB Dantzler will be one of eight participants in the 2012 TD Ameritrade College Home Run Derby in Omaha. The derby will take place July 3rd, but it will be televised on CBS from 2-3 ET on July 7th. In the 2012 season, LB went yard 10 times, including once in the CWS.

2) New SEC member Texas A&M is reportedly interested in bringing current USC AD Eric Hyman in to fill the same role in College Station. Hyman is in his seventh year in Columbia and has played a major role in improving Gamecock athletics. He was said to be in consideration for the AD position at UNC, his alma mater, last year, but he chose to stay at USC.

A statement released by the university today said Hyman would not comment on the matter. His current contract with South Carolina ends in June 2015.

The SEC Presidents and Chancellors announced today that the Aggies will become a member of the conference effective July 1, 2012, and that they will be on the schedule in all sports for the 2012-2013 season.

The last time the SEC expanded was 1991, when both the University of South Carolina and the University of Arkansas became members. University of Florida President, Dr. Bernie Machen, also chair of the SEC Presidents and Chancellors, released this statement:

“The Southeastern Conference Presidents and Chancellors are pleased to welcome Texas A&M University to the SEC family. The addition of Texas A&M University as the SEC’s 13th member gives our league a prestigious academic institution with a strong athletic tradition and a culture similar to our current institutions.”

Texas A&M’s president, R. Bowen Loftin, released a statement as well:

“The Southeastern Conference provides Texas A&M the national visibility that our great university and our student-athletes deserve. We are excited to begin competition in the nation’s premier athletic conference.  This is a 100-year decision that we have addressed carefully and methodically, and I believe the Southeastern Conference gives the Aggies the best situation of any conference in the country.”

Finally, SEC Commish Mike Slive had this to say:

“On behalf of our presidents, chancellors, athletics directors, students and fans, I welcome Texas A&M University to the SEC family,” said SEC Commissioner Mike Slive.  “Texas A&M is a nationally-prominent institution on and off the field and a great fit for the SEC tradition of excellence—athletically, academically and culturally.”

I still maintain that nothing about Texas A&M is “southeastern”, but in terms of competition, I don’t doubt that the Aggies have quality academics and a strong athletics program. Can they compete with the other teams in the SEC? I admit I don’t know a lot about them, but they did win three NCAA titles last year, and they made it to a football bowl game, March Madness, and Omaha for the College World Series. They’re a huge school, with over 50,000 total students and tons of devoted fans and alumni, as well as long-standing traditions, all of which fits in well with the SEC.

Welcome to the best conference in college athletics, Aggies. Now we just need a 14th team.

Throughout Carolina’s time in Omaha, each day’s post will be part of the Road to a Repeat series, as the Gamecocks look to win back-to-back national championships.

The Gamecocks and Aggies will face off tomorrow night at 7 ET in Omaha.

USC will start junior Michael Roth on the mound and TAMU will use Ross Stripling.

Like Carolina, Texas A&M were regular season conference co-champions (in the Big XII), and hosted a Regional.  They did not get a national seed/Super-Regional, though, and traveled to Tallahassee instead.

You might remember the second game of that series, where they were crushed 23-9.  They rallied for the rubber game, though, and defeated FSU at home to advance to Omaha.  That might give them some momentum heading into Sunday’s game.

Evan Marzilli is still nursing that hamstring injury, so it’s not clear whether he’ll play, or even start, tomorrow.  JBJ had another good day of BP.  Don’t go declaring him the starter just yet, but don’t rule it out, either.  This is Omaha.  Things could get crazy.  How crazy?  Here’s what Coach Tanner had to say today about Jackie playing tomorrow:

“I expect him to be in there – possibly.”

Clears that up for us, doesn’t it?

» Continue reading “Road to a Repeat: USC vs. Texas A&M Preview”