By Sinderella
Two weeks ago, South Carolina came off losing a series they felt they should've won versus Ole Miss and hosted #3 Vanderbilt. South Carolina used the magic of Founder's, great pitching, and hot bats to sweep Vanderbilt with relative ease. Fast forward to now, South Carolina is coming off a series they felt like they should win versus Alabama to host #3 Texas A&M. In my opinion, Texas A&M is a much better team than Vanderbilt. I felt like Vanderbilt got tossed at #3 prematurely while Texas A&M has earned their #3 ranking. I'm just thankful that A&M does not have a Vandy whistler.
Rotation Matchups:
Friday- Eli Jones (2-0, 2.46) vs. Ryan Prager (5-0, 2.21)
Saturday- Tyler Pitzer (4-0, 1.99) vs. Tanner Jones (2-1, 4.87)
Sunday- TBA vs. Justin Lamkin (2-0, 2.41)
Texas A&M is very similar to South Carolina. They are #1 and #2 in the country in walks. Both have been at the top in the country in nearly every pitching stat for most of the season. Both have 2-3 big power bats. The difference so far is that Texas A&M has been able to continue their high level of play during SEC play while South Carolina has hit a stumbling block lately losing 3 of 4.
Texas A&M comes in with a strong 1-2 punch in the starting rotation with lefties Ryan Prager and Justin Lamkin as their Friday and Sunday starters. RHP Tanner Jones is the Saturday starter and he seems to be the most vulnerable for South Carolina to steal a game and either win the series or go into Sunday with a tie series. If South Carolina drops the Saturday game, it'll be very tough for them to pull out the win.
Texas A&M brings in a lot of contact with one of the best duo hitters in the country in Braden Montgomery and Jace LaViolette. Those two have combined for 30 homeruns and 83 RBI's. If South Carolina walks them every time for the entire series it probably would not be a bad idea with how they are hitting. Teas A&M has a heavy lefty lineup and with South Carolina having only starting righties this season it could be a long series for South Carolina if A&M gets hot early. I personally would throw out Matthew Becker on Sunday, but we will wait and see what Mark Kingston and Matt Williams do.
South Carolina has to forget losing 3 of 4 and fight each pitch like it's the last pitch of the series. Look for contact, string together hits, play solid defense, take advantage of their mistakes, and pitch well. If they do all these things then South Carolina has a chance to win this series. This South Carolina team seems to play it's best when their backs are against a wall and is undefeated in the next series after losing a weekend series this season. We will see if they can do it again.
(All pictures courtesy of @AggieBaseball)
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