Fisch Tank: Baseball Preview

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Good thing it’s still early in the college baseball season, because my picks for the past week were way off. Coastal Carolina was a pleasant surprise and Gamecocks pitcher Blake Cooper made me eat crow! So, I’ll attempt to get back into the win column with my predictions for the week ahead.

Coastal Carolina
The Chants showed me up and that’s a good thing. I didn’t believe Coastal’s pitching was going to get the job done last weekend in the Baseball at the Beach Tournament. Hitters always start off the year ahead of pitching. Yet Nick McCully hasn’t needed to prime the pump on the start to his season. The super sophomore has been throwing gas over the plate. He earned a save and two wins this past week, collecting 15 strikeouts in only 10 innings of work. Dock Doyle continues to impress (.412, 12 RBI) and the coach’s son Chance Gilmore showed some pop in his bat with timely extra base hits.
Next up:
Coastal will play host to yet another tournament, this time it’s the pleasant Springmaid Beach Resort Tournament. Basically it’s just a reason for the northern schools not to freeze their bunts off and play in the warmer weather. CCU will play Ball State twice this weekend which doesn’t exactly exemplify a tournament. Game one will showcase Austin Fleet for Coastal. In his last time out he was pulled after four innings of work despite having the lead. He looked shaky against West Virginia and pitched well in his first game. The Cardinals will throw Tyler Prichard, who is coming in with a fat 9.00 ERA. Chalk this one up for the Chants! Game two will be interesting, Dave Anderson has a staggering 0.69 ERA, and his counterpart Brad Platt is 1-0. Here is the deal, I have scene Anderson toss the rock two times and I haven’t been impressed. Still he gets the job done and receives a solid defensive effort from the field each time out. Oh boy, Coastal could go into Cary, North Carolina at 12-1, but after they take on the third ranked Tar Heels Tuesday they will pick up loss number two. Coastal this week will go 2-1.

South Carolina
What an interesting week for the Garnett and Black, first they pound the Tigers, and then they choke against Charlotte. I have to give props to Blake Cooper in his bounce back effort against Clemson, but CuJo has been the real stud in the pitching ranks. Mike Cisco may be the ace but Curtis Johnson has been mowing down batters. He’s collected 9 strikeouts in 9.2 innings pitched, with only 6 hits. That’s exactly what Ray Tanner needs coming out of the pen. Not the presentation he got from the four relievers against the 49ers. Only one of the steer pen guys went without an earned run. On the other hand that Reece Havens guy is doing his best Jimmy Rollins impression for USC. The leadoff hitter leads the team in home runs (4), almost double in RBI (15), and is crushing it in slugging percentage (.931). Do him a favor right now and make sure he’s not on HGH!
This Week:
The Sarge will turn into a bakery this week, as the Gamecocks will play host to a gaggle of cupcakes. They start of with Duquesne for a three game set, then Monday they added Presbyterian to the schedule. Tanner’s team will then get to kick some Ivy League bunts when Yale comes to town. Gamecocks this week will go 6-0, but then again they could choke.

Clemson
There is a good reason I saved the Tigers for last. I am in disbelief that they were suffocated to only two runs against USC. Clemson only hit .250 in the series, and their defense was more hideous than the lobster lady in Good luck Chuck. (Watch the Movie) Mike Cisco and Blake Cooper shut them down in the home and home. The Tigers came in swinging, and went out limping. Against Wofford their pitching was miserable in the early going. Starter Casey Harmon only went three innings and Clinton McKinney should have stayed home. Still Clemson got the win and that’s what counts. If this trend continues it looks like their bats are going to have to bail them out this year. We knew their bullpen would be suspect, but to pitch like that against Wofford shows they must have been hung over.
This Week:
Bring on the ACC, as Clemson will open up conference play on the road at Wake Forest. Friday night was rained out, meaning they will do the double dip on Saturday. Three of the four games played between the two were decided by one run last year. But that was a different Tiger’s team that had a much deeper pitching staff. Ryan Hinson will get the ball in the series opener. In two starts he has only gone 11 innings, yet he has punched out nine. I believe Clemson knows now is the time to start shaping up and by following suit, they’ll take two of three from the Deacons. UNC-Greensboro will be the next series and there is no reason why they can’t have the brooms out at home. If the Tigers can get pitching, and that’s a big if, Clemson will go 5-1 this week.

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