3 South Carolina teams to play for Omaha

It's said that Texas and Ohio are pure football states, well the same could be said for South Carolina being a baseball state. Well college at least. In this past NCAA regionals there were a total of 4 teams competing to go to the Super Regionals; Clemson, South Carolina, College of Charleston and Winthrop. Three of those teams won their respective regionals and will open play Friday in the Super Regional in hopes to win 2 games to advance to the College World Series. Winthrop is the odd team out here but they did lose to UNC in the regional championship.

So out of the remaining 16 teams left to play, 3 of them are from South Carolina, I'd say that's quite impressive. I wasn't the only one to write about 3 SC teams left of the 16 teams playing in Super Regionals. Click here for Post and Courier's Gene Spackoff's article.

Here is a quick break down for each of the 3 schools in their Super Regional matchup:


Clemson Tigers 50-14 vs Oral Roberts Golden Eagles 41-14
This is a great matchup featuring two of the hottest teams in the country. Clemson comes in this matchup having won 22 of its last 23 games while Oral Roberts has won 31 of its last 34 after starting the season 10-11. These two teams have only met once and that was just last year in the Clemson regional with the Tigers taking a 8-3 victory.

Clemson boasts a record of 34-5 at home while Oral Roberts is 14-8 on the road.

Offense

Clemson is hitting .306 and is led by Tyler Colvin (.359 22 doubles, 5 triples and 12 HR, 65 RBIs and 23 SB.) Other offensive leaders are Brad Chalk .358 and Andy D'Alessio .321 22 HR and 80 RBIs.

Oral Roberts as a team is hitting .327 and averaging 8 runs a game. They are led by Andy Bouchie hitting .377 with 12 HR and 53 RBIs. Other leaders include Brendan Duffy .363, Chad Rothford .337 12 HR and 60 RBIs and Tim Torres with 10 HR and 38 RBIs.

Pitching

Clemson has a staff ERA of 3.18 and opponents batting avg of .240. The starting pitchers, Jason Berken, Stephen Faris and Josh Cribb have combined for a record of 27-5 and an ERA of 2.71 . The closer is Daniel Moskos with 10 saves and a 2.19 ERA

Oral Roberts has a staff ERA of 3.47 and opponents batting avg of .247. Pitching is led by Sean Jarrett 7-1 1.98 ERA, Chris Ashman 10-1 2.02 ERA and Nick Jones 7-4 3.67 ERA.

My prediction is Clemson wins this Super Regional in 3 games.



College of Charleston Cougars 46-15 at Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets 48-16

These two teams haven't played since Feb 93 and G. Tech has won all 7 games played.

C of C won the Lexington Regional by beating Notre Dame 5-4, Ball St 11-0 and host Kentucky 7-4. They are 23-8 on the road. As a team they are hitting .325 with 38 HRs, 129 doubles, 372 RBIs and have 124 SB in 158 attempts. The pitching staff boasts a team ERA of 2.87.

Georgia Tech won the Atlanta Regional by beating Stetson 7-5, Vanderbilt 7-3 and Vanderbilt again 8-4. They are 32-5 at home. They are hitting .320 as a team with 84 HRs, 151 doubles, 530 RBIs and have 51 SB in 66 attempts. Former Stratford standout Matt Wieters is one of their offensive leaders with a .354 Avg, 13 HRs, 19 doubles and 67 RBIs. They have a team ERA of 4.44.

C of C has had a hell of a season and their offense if based on speed but I'm not sure their pitching can shut down the Tech offense. Georgia Tech takes this Super Regional in 2 games.



South Carolina Gamecocks 40-23 at Georgia Bulldogs 45-20

These two teams have played 4 times this year and all 4 times Georgia was the victor, three times during the regular season and once in the SEC Tournament.

South Carolina won the Charlottesville Regional with wins over Evansville 4-2, Virginia 8-2, lost to Evansville 15-5 and won the championship game against Evansville 5-1. South Carolina is 9-12 on the road. Offensively they are hitting .306 with 82 HRs, 115 doubles, 432 RBIs and are only 24 of 42 in stolen bases. Pitching wise they have a team ERA of 4.43.

Georgia won their Athens Regional beating Sacred Heart 11-0, lost to Florida St 6-4, beat Jacksonville 15-8, beat Florida St 7-1 and beat them again 3-2. They have a home record of 27-10. Offensively they are hitting .310 with 74 HRs, 128 doubles, 426 RBIs and are 63 of 79 in stolen bases. Pitching wise they have a staff ERA of 4.64.

S. Carolina is playing good ball but their record on the road isn't good and Georgia seems to own Carolina this year as previously mentioned at 4 and 0. This Super Regional will definitely come down to the third game with Georgia winning the regional. Georgia in 3 games.


View 2006 NCAA Baseball Championship bracket here.