Old Cocky isn't strutting this morning, and may not have even crowed at the crack of dawn, in Columbia after Vandy took down SC last night 7-6. Cocky, with his incessant crow calls during the game, is, in my view, second only in obnoxiousness to UT's band playing Rocky Top ever 4 seconds at a football game. Third on the list is Samuel L. Jackson commercials for Capital One and I can assure you it's not in my pocket.
Key to the win, for me, was the Cores second inning. In the first inning, Will Crowe (what a great name for a Gamecock player) mowed us down on just 11 pitches, 9 of which were strikes. He got 2 strikeouts and ground out to 3rd.
When a pitcher has that kind of success, what should he do in the 2nd? My guess he was thinking, "I'll do the same thing next inning." Fortunately, the Dores did some meditating before coming to bat in the 2nd and decided they were going to jump on those strikes early. Toffey hit the first pitch for a sharp single to center. On the 2nd pitch of his at bat Grisanti singled to 2nd. On his first pitch Delay singled off the 3rd baseman's glove and got a run home. Ray hit the second pitch for a long fly out to center that got another run home.
So, to recap, the Dores score 2 runs on 6 pitches and 3 hits. In the 3rd, our hitters switched gears again and started taking more pitches, scoring another run on Grisanti's double. That all happened on 19 pitches.
In the 5th the Dores scored 3 runs with a mix of strategy. The first 3 batters used 6 pitches to get a run home (thanks to some crafty running by Jeren Kendall) then starting taking a lot of pitches so that Crowe ended up throwing 26 total pitches in the inning.
I have no doubt our coaches were behind this hitting strategy and kudos to them for adjusting our approach to fit the situation.
Another key to the win was we got contributions from everybody en route to scoring 7 runs. Every starter reached base at least once. Every starter got at least 1 hit except Ray, who scored a run on a sacrifice fly and later drew a walk, and Kaiser, athough Connor did reach base due to Interference. Five different guys scored runs and four different guys had RBI's.
The only reason the game ended up being close was because Jones made a fielding error to start the 8th inning. Snider did give up 4 runs, but 2 of those were unearned as a result of Jones' miscue.
By 5 p.m. I suspect Cocky will be back strutting his stuff and being as obnoxious as ever. It'll be up to the VandyBoys to shut him up again.
Key to the win, for me, was the Cores second inning. In the first inning, Will Crowe (what a great name for a Gamecock player) mowed us down on just 11 pitches, 9 of which were strikes. He got 2 strikeouts and ground out to 3rd.
When a pitcher has that kind of success, what should he do in the 2nd? My guess he was thinking, "I'll do the same thing next inning." Fortunately, the Dores did some meditating before coming to bat in the 2nd and decided they were going to jump on those strikes early. Toffey hit the first pitch for a sharp single to center. On the 2nd pitch of his at bat Grisanti singled to 2nd. On his first pitch Delay singled off the 3rd baseman's glove and got a run home. Ray hit the second pitch for a long fly out to center that got another run home.
So, to recap, the Dores score 2 runs on 6 pitches and 3 hits. In the 3rd, our hitters switched gears again and started taking more pitches, scoring another run on Grisanti's double. That all happened on 19 pitches.
In the 5th the Dores scored 3 runs with a mix of strategy. The first 3 batters used 6 pitches to get a run home (thanks to some crafty running by Jeren Kendall) then starting taking a lot of pitches so that Crowe ended up throwing 26 total pitches in the inning.
I have no doubt our coaches were behind this hitting strategy and kudos to them for adjusting our approach to fit the situation.
Another key to the win was we got contributions from everybody en route to scoring 7 runs. Every starter reached base at least once. Every starter got at least 1 hit except Ray, who scored a run on a sacrifice fly and later drew a walk, and Kaiser, athough Connor did reach base due to Interference. Five different guys scored runs and four different guys had RBI's.
The only reason the game ended up being close was because Jones made a fielding error to start the 8th inning. Snider did give up 4 runs, but 2 of those were unearned as a result of Jones' miscue.
By 5 p.m. I suspect Cocky will be back strutting his stuff and being as obnoxious as ever. It'll be up to the VandyBoys to shut him up again.
