Baseball at SC, Fri 5/2, 7:00 pm

I thought we were saving TBA for Sunday.

Go GATORS!
,WESGATORS

 

Yep, I can relate, seen a bunch tho I missed a couple of biggies .

 

We could really benefit from a sweep this weekend. Hope these guys bring out the brooms.

Will finishing 6-3 or 5-4 in the remaining SEC games get us over the hump? Or do we need 7-2 so that we're .500 in the conference?

 

4-5 is probably enough to qualify. 5-4 is basically a lock. 6-3 is a lock. 7-2, especially if that includes 2-1 @ UT, gets our boys in the hosting discussion. That said, the host "bubble" looks tighter than the "get in" bubble.

 

The tba and talk about what we need to qualify made me think of an interesting strategy… what if for the remainder of the season we went tba on Friday (we get the win great, if not no big deal) and then ran with king and peterson sat. sun. respectively. Normally would not make sense but if we kind of sell out to get 4/5 wins we might have the best chance matching our best pitcher against their worst starter. And as to a host I think we’d probably have to go 9-1 over these last 10 games for that to happen.

 

TBA pitchers. Never heard of either of them. Figure we need to win the Gameycock series and one at Texas, sweep Alabama then win two or three at Tournament. We may get a regional after all that.
Of course, it may be impossible but then again, maybe the sun will rise in the west and set in the east.

 

We were one of the last 4 teams that got a bid last year and we had a 13-17 conference record. But our overall record was only a game or two above .500 because we lost a bunch of non-conference games. This year, we have a much better non-conference record than last year, but still need to hit the 13-win conference mark to be guaranteed an NCAA bid, IMO. 12-18 would probably get us in, but I think the goal it to go at least 5-4 over the last 9 games, although 4-5 would probably do it considering our RPI and SOS rankings. .

 

Believe we have been swept in the last two trips to South Carolina. Time to reverse that mojo.

 

I got to see a small venue show with Ted Nugent between his Amboy Dukes days and getting a huge hit with Cat Scratch Fever.

Not really a fan of his but a friend of mine was working the show so I got in free. He was probably working lighting that night.

Anyway he told me that somebody from Ted's entourage told a guy working back stage to put out his joint because "Teddy's" mom was there and she doesn't like that kind of thing. Ted Nugent: Momma's boy. LOL.

Not exactly how I think he wants to portray himself.

 

I am thinking if there is a chance for a rain delay after the game starts we might not want to start Peterson.

 

I just read where USCe’s outfielder Ethan Petry is out for 2-4 weeks with a shoulder injury.

Evidently he sustained the injury last weekend at Ky as he crashed into the wall making a catch. The injury is to his left shoulder.

 

That's a big loss for them.....but not sympathy given our injuries

 

So happy for him!

 

Shelton out for 3 weeks with wrist injury. Pierce Coppola might make an appearance this weekend.

 

I just saw where Carolina has only allowed 3 triples all year. Going to have to find another way to beat them. What does a coach say to his team when you they come across such an obstacle, or is it best not to even broach the subject?

Go GATORS!
,WESGATORS

 

Some stats:

Gators are now top 50 (46) in batting average at .301. as a team. We are 6 Doubles from reaching 100 for the season. That's good for 36th in the nation. We are 30th in the nation in Home runs with 71. USCe is not in the top 50 in any of these categories.

Neither team is in the top 50 in team era or WHIP. However, Florida is 27th in the nation in Strikeout-Walk Ratio. 491/188. Surprisingly, USCe is better than us at Hits allowed per game. (8.24), which is good for 34th in the nation. We aren't in the top 50 in this category.

Gators are top 15 (15) in fielding percentage at .980, which is 30 errors. USCe is at .976 (46) with 38 errors on the season.

The Gators on paper should win easily. But this is baseball, so anything can happen. Go Gators! Beat the Cocks!

 

Hamate was what I was worried about on Shelton, looks like that's it. Just have to keep our heads above water and hope he's back for postseason, and without a lot of rust