Is this the year?

[TheGuitarCock]

With baseball around the corner it is time for me to move my mind over from football to baseball. By no means do I follow baseball closely as I should. The last time I said or thought about any kind of baseball was in Chapel Hill last year when we couldn't keep a lead for nothing. But, with this new year brings promise, hope, and belief. So my question. . .is this the year we can finally win the SEC and compete in Omaha? We usually have a very consistant team. I am ready to finally break through and bring a National Champioship back to Columbia. I am tired of getting let down in the Super regionals. This is the year!

GO COCKS!

[garnetgolfr]

The biggest thing that killed us last year was our pitching. It doesn't matter how many runs you score or how many homeruns (we led the nation) you have if you can't keep the other team from doing the same. We outscored UNC early in the supers and let them come back because of shotty pitching and poor defense (Havens killed us that one game). But I hear from some guys down on campus that we have some really good arms in this year to help on the rotation. I think this is the year we finally do something great. We need to focus on the SEC as our main goal. I think we can do it.

[Dr. Cock]

With the exception of the past couple of years, we have always been competitive in Omaha. Quite possibly my favorite Gamecock moment of ANY sport was thrashing the hell out of Clemson 12-4 and 10-2 on the national stage. One thing that we need to do is when (not if) we get back to Omaha we have go to win the first game being played. We have been put in a hole every year we get there and always have to fight back to stay alive in the Loser's bracket.

As for this years team, on paper they look to be one of the best teams in the country and one of the best since our National Championship Runner-Up team. But, we are just going to have to wait and see. Pitching has been our weakness the past couple of years, and it should be much improved this year.

[SAETerrier]

Let me start out by saying...wouldn't this be a great sendoff to Sarge Frye Field(hopefully)? Ya'll are right so far in that this should be one of our better teams. In fact, this might be our best team for the next few seasons because this is probably Smoak's and Darnell's last year. I was at those three games in Chapel Hill (though I was also touring medical schools in the area) and it seems we were , first, lacking in pitching, whether it be bullpen or inconsistancy of starting pitching. Honeycutt was great, but faded near the end. Hempy gave up some big-run games. Cisco seemed to always give up a fat ball or two that teams took advantage of, etc. I think another thing that was lacking was an upbeat team spirit. We did not have much for leadership last season to rally in close games, but I believe we'll have some juniors step into that spot this year. The SEC season killed us last year with us not being able to sweep ANY SEC opponent. I hate to lose Coach Toman (especially with that riot he caused in the UGA series!!!), but I think we can improve on last year's team and finally bring Tanner the championship he and his team deserves! I can't wait for baseball! GO COCKS!

[OLDCOCK]

You will have to wait and see what the pitching is like . We have not been good on the mound since Myers left and you cant win with average pitching reguardless of how much hitting you have! Calvi has not produced a great pitcher since he got here . Cant pitch cant win--simple as that! Time will tell.

[ColaCock]

Everyone complains about just the pitching, but I don't think it is just Calvi or strictly bad pitching. When looking at the numbers, we actually had a pretty good pitching staff last year. Maybe not solid top to bottom nor very consistent, but we had one of the lowest team ERA's in the nation and Top 5 in strikeouts per 9 innings. He also drafted 4 pitchers last year as well.

Makes me wonder.

[USCMusicMan]

Everyone complains about just the pitching, but I don't think it is just Calvi or strictly bad pitching. When looking at the numbers, we actually had a pretty good pitching staff last year. Maybe not solid top to bottom nor very consistent, but we had one of the lowest team ERA's in the nation and Top 5 in strikeouts per 9 innings. He also drafted 4 pitchers last year as well.

Makes me wonder.

we've had solid pitchers, but noone outstanding and every team needs an outstanding pitcher to make it to omaha, imo.

[willy]

If we can keep the injuries from sneaking up on our pitching staff (i.e. Hempy last year and Cisco.) we will be in great shape. GO YARDCOCKS, WE ARE ON A MISSION.

[OLDCOCK]

If you are going to win in Omaha you must have a stopper and since Calvi has been here we have not had 1. Coach Meyers was a gem!! Maybe 1 can develope this yr! We actually need 2!

[willy]

If you are going to win in Omaha you must have a stopper and since Calvi has been here we have not had 1. Coach Meyers was a gem!! Maybe 1 can develope this yr! We actually need 2!



Coach Calvi has a bunch coming in. I am sure there will be a coupla stoppers in his mix.

[uscnoklahoma]

Well the way I see it....making the SEC tourney will be better than anything the football or basketball team will have accomplished, unless DO pulls a miracle out of his tail. And deep down we will all know they will do much more than that little bit. The baseball team is old reliable. I am ready for the regionals.

[eggroll]

This team will bomb the long ball as they did last year. Someone must emerge in the pen to shutdown innings 7-9. Who is the next Gronk or Blackwell?

[evilpoptart]

The team has a ton of returning starters. If we can solidify a starting rotation early in the season as well as a go to guy for late game shutdown the team should be dangerous again.

I agree with most of the people here, what last years team was a strong bullpen. Hempy was a stud, but who else was stepping up late in the season? That poor kid last year who couldnt shake off that bad streak.

[papasmurf]

Pitching...Hitting...Defense = Championship

http://img232.imageshack.us/img232/372/e4bj3.gif (http://imageshack.us)http://img232.imageshack.us/img232/372/e4bj3.gif (http://imageshack.us) http://img232.imageshack.us/img232/372/e4bj3.gif (http://imageshack.us)

[willy]

Well the way I see it....making the SEC tourney will be better than anything the football or basketball team will have accomplished, unless DO pulls a miracle out of his tail. And deep down we will all know they will do much more than that little bit. The baseball team is old reliable. I am ready for the regionals.


I am with you on that Oklahoma. Hurry up Baseball.

[JAYBEZ]

I would be happy with just making it to the world series. We havn't been able to get past the supers the last couple years, so that has been a bummer.

[jellafever]

I would be happy with just making it to the world series. We havn't been able to get past the supers the last couple years, so that has been a bummer.

I too have been bummed out about losing in the supers, but when we get back to Omaha this year I want to actually win some games and make a run for it.