As the college baseball season enters the second half of conference play, the Gamecocks are afforded the luxury of scanning the horizon to analyze possible match-ups. Throughout the season, the Yardcocks have struggled much more against lefties. No left hander entered the season with more acclaim than TCU's Matt Purke. Purke, a draft eligible sophomore and former first round pick of the Texas Rangers, was dominant last year with a 16-0 for the Horned Frogs, a 3.02 ERA and 142 strikeouts in 116 1/3 innings. The tall lefty has not been himself this season and Jonathan Mayo from MLBblogs.com is reporting that Purke has been shut down due to shoulder soreness and saw Dr. James Andrews this week. Tough blow for the Horned Frogs post-season hopes.
Ray Tanner's crew will face off against a pesky Mississippi State Bulldog squad after the long bus ride to Starkville. The Bulldogs will send sophomore right hander, Chris Stratton, to the mound tonight. Stratton, who brings a 4.66 era, was on our pre-season All-SEC squad mainly because we couldn't put the entire Florida and Vandy staffs on the team. Though they are 6-9 in conference, Mississippi State is always a tough place to play and winning 2 of 3 will make the long bus ride home a happy one. Currently, Coach Cohen is listing his Sunday starter as TBA. We expect him to throw any lefty he can find if Nick Routt is effective in any shape or form on Saturday.
Mark us down in the group who wonders-What in the world happened to Wake Forest in every sport? The football team was awful in 2010. Basketball has become laughable, but no team took a bigger dip than baseball. They only have one player hitting over .260. One! There are only 3 hitting over .252! This is from a team that was a National Seed a few years ago. clemmons should again sweep and win each game by at least 4-5 runs. Start Scott Weismann and get him a victory because you are gonna need him in June. Maybe Wake needs a new AD?
