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| Freshman Alex Destino hit his first career home run Saturday as South Carolina swept a doubleheader from College of Charleston. (PalmettoStateBaseball.com photo) |
Thankfully for us baseball fans, the DI schools cranked it up for real over the weekend.
Based on the schedules I have -- I don't have one for Morris yet -- there are just seven days between now and May 16 when there won't be at least one college baseball game involving a South Carolina school. Of course, weather could change that -- as early as Tuesday.
Before we move on, let's take a look back at the first full really busy weekend of the season.
Of course it's cold and good pitchers can make a difference, but I didn't see a a lot of offensive impact from the new lower-seamed baseballs on NCAA Division I games. I saw the three College of Charleston-South Carolina games in person and watched parts of Sunday's West Virginia-Clemson and Akron-Furman games on the Internet.
It will be interesting to see if that changes as the season goes on. Perhaps the caliber of pitcher on the NCAA Division I level will minimize the impact.
For whatever reason, the offensive numbers seem to be up among teams on the NCAA Division II, NAIA and junior college levels. There already have been several dozen games where one or both teams scored in double figures and four where the winner hit 20 runs.
On to the games:
* Kudos to Clemson, College of Charleston and South Carolina for being willing to open their seasons with a challenging series. Those series will be resume-boosters and, could help tilt a tight battle for a regional host spot into their favor.
* A couple of familiar problems plagued Clemson as it lost two of three to West Virginia. The Tigers had trouble getting hits in clutch situations and defensive breakdowns contributed to three unearned runs. Clemson made four errors. Averaging more than an error a game is not in the formula for success.
The Tigers got outstanding starting pitching from Matthew Crownover, Zack Erwin and Brody Koerner. If trio continues to produce at or near that level, the Tigers should be fine if they can tighten up the defense.
* South Carolina looked anemic on offense in its opening loss to College of Charleston, but coach Chad Holbrook later indicated an outstanding performance by Cougars starter Taylor Clarke was a factor. The Gamecocks looked better at the plate in Saturday's doubleheader sweep.
Holbrook may continue to tinker with the lineup to find the right mix. He said he has more players he wants in the lineup than he has positions. One of those players Holbrook likes is freshman Alex Destino. The left-hander smoked his first career home run onto Williams Street beyond the right-field fence at Carolina Stadium.
On the mound, sophomore Wil Crowe had a career-high 10 strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings and Taylor Widener struck out six in his first appearance as USC's closer. Holbrook indicated Widener likely wouldn't be used as a hitter so he can concentrate on being the best closer he can be.
* The Citadel relief pitcher Skylar Hunter picked up his 30th career save to help the Bulldogs sweep Air Force despite hitting just .205 as a team. James Reeves had another of the pitching highlights, striking out 14 in six innings.
* Charleston Southern overcame deficits of 5-0 and 6-0 en route to a Saturday doubleheader sweep of Chicago State to go 3-0. Coach Stuart Lake's team hit .363 for the weekend.
* Presbyterian went 4-0 against Delaware State, twice scoring the winning run in its final at-bat.
* Southern Wesleyan has made the move from NAIA to NCAA Division II, and its travel budget should benefit from playing conference games much closer to home. Coach Mike Gillespie's team went 1-2 against Francis Marion over the weekend, but getting a win over such a solid DII program is a nice step.
* Florence-Darlington Tech and Erskine improved to 8-0 on the season. Tech got a nice win over Potomac State, which frequently serves as the final roadblock between NJCAA Region 10 teams and a trip to the junior college Worlds Series. USC Sumter also got a win over Potomac State during the Pepsi Classic in Florence.
* USC Beaufort took two of three from Warner in its first Sun Conference series of the season. The Sand Sharks are 10-2.
* It was a rough weekend for nationally ranked Lander and USC Aiken, the two teams expected to set the standard for Palmetto State NCAA DII teams. The Bearcats lost three at Flagler and the Pacers lost three at Armstrong State by a total of four runs.
* Claflin likely had a long bus or van ride home frolm Mobile, Ala. The Panthers suffered a three-game sweep at Spring Hill College. Sunday's 10-9 loss in 11 innings may have stung more because Claflin had a 9-0 lead after 1 1/2 innings.
* Voorhees won three of four games vs. Morehouse. Why is that noteworthy? Voorhees was 3-35 last year and already is 4-6 this year. First-year coach Justin Thomas appears to be laying the groundwork for a competitive program. That's pretty good for a program that just a few years ago was unable to field a team. Previous coach Robert Platts took some lumps while he was reviving the program, but some of the players he recruited are helping the Tigers this year.
An addition
* I apologize to Coastal Carolina fans for not including the opening of Springs Brooks Stadium in the original post. The Chanticleers drew a regular season-record on-campus crowd of 1,736 for Friday's 4-0 victory over Old Dominion.
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