Dabblin' With the Cockspur: Pitching, Championships, You Know the Drill...

posted by Roger Olivieri, 3/04/2010 10:27:00 PM

One thing Gamecock baseball has lacked recently is depth on the pitching staff. About as deep as the kiddie pool during drought season in the past, Coach Holbrook has placed an emphasis on pitching while recruiting.

As painful as the East Carolina series was to watch after a Game 1 victory, the pitching staff wasn’t all that bad. Some appearances were actually very impressive.

Let’s check out some numbers starting on Friday and work our way right through a very impressive mid-week Nolan Belcher outing, shall we?

Blake Cooper, like me, just gets better with age. The kid has gone from freshman fill-in to surgical senior smoother than a silk nightie strewn across Jenny McCarthy back when she hosted that stupid game show on MTV.

Friday night, thrown into enemy territory, Cooper decides to up his record to 2-0 by throwing seven innings, allowing only four hits and two earned runs.

Cooper has started off strong posting an ERA of 3.00 with an even more impressive WHIP (base runners per inning) of .917. In college baseball – he’s a freak right about now. Striking out 8.25 per nine innings and allowing an opponent batting average of .175, Cooper is averaging 14.8 pitches per inning and throwing strikes at a rate of 63.3%. As I’ve said in the past, don’t be fooled by that number. Guys who throw strikes 80 and 90 percent of the time get hit hard.

Mike Roth relieved Cooper on Friday and kept on keeping on. Appearing in four games in a row (including the Saturday heart-wrencher), Roth had become the Gamecock’s own version of The Jersey Shore – The Situation.

Through three innings, Roth has given up one earned run, whiffed five and walked two. The sophomore is averaging 15 K’s per nine innings and holds the opponent to a .111 batting average.

John Taylor, though he recorded the save in Friday’s victory, came extremely close to blowing that one as well. Only 24 hours later, he did blow the save – something that was bound to happen after two very close calls (Duquesne and ECU the night before).

It’s safe to say, Coach Tanner and Calvi are looking for the next in line. Sure, Tanner said Taylor’s results were decent considering he had batters hitting ground balls, but not even Johnny Cochran could get me to believe the job is firmly in Taylor’s grasp.

With an ERA of 6.77 and a WHIP of 3.76, it’s safe to say Taylor is all but in the clear when the ninth inning rolls around. Not to kick a man when he’s down, but the opponents are batting a robust .625 against him.

Sam Dyson is what I like to call, the “pick up line.” You throw it out there and wait in excruciating limbo. Is it going to work? Is it going to break the evening? You go inning by inning watching its awesome effectiveness just hoping it holds throughout. If it works, you win. If it doesn’t work, you go home pissed off.

It’s not really Sam so much as it’s his health. We all know the kid has tremendous talent – that’s no secret. What makes him so similar to a pick up line is his impending health. Usually things go great, but seemingly we are all waiting for something to snap.

Like any good pick up artist, Tanner likes to ease on the brake every now and then – take it slow, hoping to reel in the prom queen. This week, in Clemson, Tanner is going to let Dyson throw about 70 pitches before letting off the gas and yanking him.

Thus far, “the pick-up line” has been working great. He’s thrown 7.66 innings, allowed two runs, two hits, walked three and struck out eleven. On pace for almost 13 K’s per nine, it’s easy for one to imagine the possibilities when Dyson is at full strength. Until then, we just hope the pick-up line keeps her interested.

Opponents are hitting .080 against Dyson thus far so it looks as if our metaphor is hooking up at the end of the night, if you catch my drift.

Jimmy Revan, though roughed up against Duquesne, seemed pretty darned effective against East Carolina. He threw two innings on Saturday, allowed no runs, scattered three hits and struck out three. He’s yet to walk a batter in either of his two appearances and is averaging 16.2 strikeouts per nine.

On the down side, Revan is getting hit at a .333 clip, averaging almost 25 pitches per inning and allowing 2.4 runners per inning. Sooner or later this maniacal, devil approach (that’s an inside joke for Dave and I) to pitching catches up with you.

Steven Neff, though I already referred to him yesterday, is not pitching poorly. In my opinion, Neff has been fantastic. He started for the first time in a wild atmosphere and got hit early. The difference between coming out of the bullpen and starting is worlds apart.

Yes, he got hit hard, but he was carrying a boat load of pressure after Saturday’s disappointing loss. Yes, Tanner should have stuck with Tyler Webb on Sunday, but he was going with his experience in the hostile environment. Mistake. Patience. Perseverance. Neff will be just fine.

The good news to come out of Sunday is the performance of young hotshot Tyler Webb.

Down 4-0, Webb comes into that same atmosphere and shuts down a pretty darned good East Carolina offense. In 4.33 innings, Webb allows only two hits, walks none and strikes out three.

Back in the weekend rotation, Webb has not allowed an earned run so far, struck out nine and walked only one. Opponents are batting .226 against him, getting less than one runner on per inning (0.92) while he’s zipping through innings in only 11.78 pitches per.

He’ll be back on the mound Sunday in Columbia against that school from the north. Talk about pressure…

I bet he handles it just fine.

Nolan Belcher may have lost his weekend spot to Webb, but he’s firmly entrenching himself as a mid-week guy. Mauling Presbyterian Wednesday, Belch added to his early season success.

In seven innings, the little man has allowed exactly zero runs, walked two, fanned eleven and allowed two hits. If it weren’t for the Gamecocks eight run second inning that kept Belch in the dugout for about thirty minutes, I’m convinced he’s have thrown longer on Wednesday. He’s allowing 0.57 base runners per inning while averaging 2.57 hits allowed per nine.

Opponents are hitting .083 against him while he mows down 14.1 per nine by way of the K.

Get ready Columbia, because Ray finally has a pitching staff.

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