South Carolina Gamecocks
Overall rank: #2
Conference rank: #2 SEC
South Carolina Team Page
It should come as no surprise that the team to win the College World Series is ranked at or near the top of College Sports Madness’s baseball ratings, and with good reason. South Carolina is synonymous with baseball powerhouses in college. The Gamecocks have won back-to-back national championships, but can a three-peat be in order given how tough the field… not to mention South Carolina’s own conference… will be? And can South Carolina duplicate what it did last year and win 16 straight postseason games? It should be an exciting season as the Gamecocks try for three in a row.
2011: 55-14, 22-8
2011 Postseason: Won College World Series (beat Texas A&M, beat Virginia twice, defeated Florida 2-1 in 11 innings and 5-2 for the championship)
Coach: Ray Tanner
Field Players:
Infielder Christian Walker (see Who to Watch) is the big returning star in a lineup full of heavy hitters. The team will miss infielder Scott Wingo, who hit .338 a year ago but only saw 13 of his 81 hits go for extra bases. Catcher Brady Thomas (.316-4-43) displayed a little more firepower at the plate, but he is also gone. Outfielder Evan Marzilli (.291-3-31) still hit 14 doubles, one of the top extra-base threats on the team, and he is back in the lineup. Catcher/outfielder Robert Beary (.289-3-35) is out of the lineup. Are there any holes? There are a few, as only two of the top five hitters return. This means reserve hitters like outfielder Adam Matthews (.264-2-14 in 34 games) will have to plug the gaps.
Pitchers:
South Carolina will miss having its top two hurlers on the hill. Michael Roth does return with his 14-3 record and 1.06 earned run average, and he struck out 112 hitters while walking 41. The walk amount seems fairly high, but the ratio of nearly 3-to-1 strikeouts to walks isn’t bad at all. John Taylor (8-1, 1.14) has graduated, but Forrest Koumas (6-1, 2.96, 29 walks, 63 strikeouts) should take his place as the No. 2 pitcher on the hill. Colby Holmes (7-3, 3.69) likely becomes the third starter, and the Gamecocks are very high on his 21 walks and 77 strikeouts; that displays great control. The even better news for Gamecock pitching is the return of Matt Price, whose 7-3 mark and 1.83 ERA also includes a team-best 20 saves.
Who to Watch:
Walker, who can play both first and third base, is showing great signs that he will be considered for draft status in 2012, especially if he keeps up the numbers displayed during a boffo 2011 campaign. Walker hit .358 with 64 runs and 97 hits, all three team highs, while striking 10 of the team’s 46 home runs. Walker can certainly hit for extra bases and power. Almost a third of his hits weren’t singles, resulting in a high .554 slugging percentage. Oh, did we mention the 30 strikeouts? Walker had 271 at-bats, meaning he struck out once in just over nine at-bats. That’s the type of hitter college coaches absolutely love to see and have on their team.
Final Projection:
The only thing holding South Carolina back from a three-peat in Omaha is the weakness of the hitting lineup. Walker is back, but losing Wingo, Thomas and Beary in one fell swoop may kill the Gamecocks’ chances. Not having Taylor around will also be a killer, but keep in mind there are likely backups for the missing players and if one or two of the solid freshmen come through then all of these worries will be overblown.
Projected Postseason: NCAA
Returning Leaders:
At bats: Christian Walker, 1B/3B, 271
Hits: Christian Walker, 1B/3B, 97
Home Runs: Christian Walker, 1B/3B, 10
RBIs: Christian Walker, 1B/3B, 62
Runs: Christian Walker, 1B/3B 64
Stolen Bases: Evan Marzilli, OF, 6
Wins: Michael Roth, P, 14
Innings Pitched: Michael Roth, P, 145.0
Strikeouts: Michael Roth, P, 112
Saves: Matt Price, P, 20
Madness 2012 MLB Draft Rankings:
#57 Christian Walker
#71 Matt Price
#79 Michael Roth
#105 Colby Holmes
