Pardon the innuendo, but the Cocks were limp tonight. That said, they may be down, but they’re not out – yet.
Arizona played a terrific game and came away with a 5-1 win in the opener of the finals at the College World Series tonight.
Starter Konner Wade tossed a complete game, his second-straight at the CWS. More on his night later.
Arizona got on the board early, putting up two runs in the bottom of the first inning. Johnny Field hit a one-out single and got to second on a ground out from Alex Mejia. Robert Refsnyder went yard after that, making it 2-0 Wildcats.
They added another run in the third. Trent Gilbert reached on an error by Joey Pankake, and Joey Rickard singled to put runners on first and second with no outs. Mejia knocked a one-out base hit, and was able to get to second on the throw. That also brought Gilbert across the plate to up the score to 3-0.
Arizona added more insurance in the fifth. With one out, Field walked and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Seth Mejias-Brean later singled to bring Field in, making it 4-0 Wildcats.
The final UA run came in the seventh inning, when Refsnyder laced a one-out single, advanced on a ground out by Mejias-Brean, and then crossed the plate thanks to an RBI single from Bobby Brown.
South Carolina mustered their only run in the sixth. Grayson Greiner led off the inning with a double and came home on an RBI single from Evan Marzilli. Christian Walker followed that with a walk, but LB Danztler grounded out to end the inning.
The Yardcocks tried to mount a rally in the seventh, but they just couldn’t make it happen. Adam Matthews started things off with a single, then Kyle Martin roped a base hit of his own. Matthews made it to second and tried to get to third, but was thrown out when Refsnyder made a perfect throw to the base. Matthews did appear to be safe, but was called out. That seemed to deflate the team a bit, and they were unable to do much else offensively.
The Cats outhit Carolina 12-6, and USC recorded two errors to Arizona’s one. Walker, Tanner English, and Greiner all went 1-for-3 to lead the Cocks at the plate, Moore led the Wildcats, going 3-for-4.
South Carolina starter Forrest Koumas lasted only 2 1/3 innings. He allowed three runs on four hits, walked one batter, and struck out three. Koumas took the loss and drops to 2-3 on the season.
Reliever Evan Beal did an excellent job, pitching five innings where he gave up two runs on seven hits. He walked four batters and K’d three. He kept the Gamecocks in the game, though, and didn’t get any help from the offense.
Nolan Belcher threw the final 2/3 of an inning and gave up one hit while also notching a strike out.
Like I said, Konner with a K was fantastic on the mound. In nine innings of work, he surrendered just one run on six hits, issued one walk, and K’d three. He obviously earned the win and improves to 11-3 this year.
Very, very little went right tonight for the Cocks, as evidenced by their lack of offensive production and their fielding miscues. Joey Pankake had an error for the first time in 24 games, and Grayson Greiner, usually lights out behind the plate, threw a ball to second that sailed into the outfield. Those alone should be signs that tonight was just not USC’s night.
As a side note, the coverage tonight on ESPN2 was horrendous. Mike Patrick seems to hate the Gamecocks, and he made it very, very clear that he was pro-Arizona. It seemed that if he could’ve crowned the Wildcats the champs tonight, he would’ve been all too happy to do it. I knwo this may sound like sour grapes, but I had people 0n twitter with no ties to Carolina asking me why Patrick was so anti-USC and why he seemed so glad that the Yardcocks were not playing well. Somewhat shockingly, though, we didn’t hear the “Pankake homered on National Pancake Day” story.
Plus, they seemed dead set on showing Refsnyder’s parents at every available opportunity. They have a very nice story, but we didn’t need to see his mom even half as frequently as she was shown. Show her celebrating his rare homer, sure, but we don’t need random gratuitous shots.
We didn’t get to see any Gamecock parents – although they did cut to Steve and Jerri Spurrier a few times – and I’m sure they were just as proud and excited to see their boys in Omaha as Robert’s parents.
With the win, Arizona is now 47-17 overall. With the loss, South Carolina falls to 49-19. Each team will send their ace to the mound tomorrow night, as lefty Michael Roth starts for the Cocks and righty Kurt Heyer gets the nod for the Wildcats. The first pitch is scheduled for 8 ET and the game will be shown on ESPN.
The Yardcocks must win if they want to keep playing for the title. It’ll be tough, but if anyone knows how to battle when facing elimination, it’s the guys in garnet and black.
