See I told you so!......Baseball Team getting ready for tough stretch run!

As predicted on The Cock-A-Booster before the season, this very talented but very young Gamecock Baseball team would go through some wobbles early and face a lot of challenges.  Sure enough, they stumbled and bumbled around for a while and got popped in the mouth up in Lexington and by Florida.  Before we knew it they stood 1-5 in the SEC and admittedly it wasn’t a fun start.  

Having said that, also as predicted here, USC’s young players and veterans gathered themselves together and responded with vigor!  The Gamecocks have now rolled off 4 straight series wins including two sweeps in a row over Miss. State and Auburn.  It all adds up to 10 of 12 wins in the conference of late and a conference record of 11-7, tied for the 3rd best record in the SEC.  Also, we are now just 2 games out of 1st!  

If you were one of the ones who bailed during the tough start, you have to admit that Pankake, Montgomery, Dantzler, English, Greiner and other new faces are finding that voice, that chemistry that will be needed if USC is going to seriously defend the 2 national titles.  

There are still those haplessly mired in negativity who will write off the recent success due to weaker opposition.  To use a scientific phrase to answer that….WELL DUH!!!  To all those “Sherlocks” in the “Captain Obvious Club,” congratulations on your brilliant insight there.  I get it that Kentucky and Florida are more like the teams we’ll see in the Regionals, Supers and Omaha.  The question is whether or not getting the recent wins and tons of experience will improve the team to the point where we are better when we see that talent level across the field again. 

Alabama’s Crimson Tide comes to Columbia this weekend and Carolina will be heavy favorites including the ESPN National Game of the Week on Thursday.  Even if we only win 2 in that series, the Gamecocks will head into the final stretch of the season at 32-13 and 13-8, right where I thought we would be.  Georgia, Arkansas and LSU is without a doubt a perilous lineup of weekends.  

I think the last month or so has seasoned us up and we’ll be ready.  If not, okay but don’t tell me we aren’t a MUCH better baseball team for the stretch run.   Are we a National Seed?  Not yet, but I think if it the field were selected today we are a regional host.  

And I ask the same question I did during the early losses:  If we do hit the road for the Supers, do you honestly think anyone in Tallahassee, Coral Gables, Raleigh or Chapel Hill wants to see us come to town?  No way!   

AS ALWAYS...Trust In Tanner!