By FITSNews || Since we pay for so many friggin’ colleges and universities in South Carolina, the least we can expect is for more of them to excel athletically.
Boy, have those expectations not panned out, though - at least not as far as the revenue producing programs are concerned.
Fortunately there’s college baseball, a sport at which the University of South Carolina (which sucks at literally everything else) has somehow managed to excel. The Gamecocks have now advanced to baseball’s Super Regionals (that’s one step away from the College World Series) in eight of the last eleven years, and while head coach Ray Tanner is clearly a guy who breathes disproportionately out of his mouth, he’s done an infinitely better job of producing winners than the ‘Ol Ball Sac.
Errr … “Head Ball Coach.”
Tanner’s Gamecocks now have some “Carolina company” in the NCAA Super Regional, too, as Coastal Carolina – which has actually been a better team this year than the Gamecocks - defeated the College of Charleston to win their hometown regional.
You can track both teams’ progress below …
WEB EXTRA
College Baseball Postseason Bracket (NCAA Official Site)
By stevetclark June 7, 2010 at 10:11 pm
Coastal Carolina sucks. Go Gamecocks!
By mypitts2 June 8, 2010 at 12:15 am
With what I’ve seen with this Haley/Knotts/Folks/Braugher mess, I would say SC needs to spend MORE on higher education.
By mypitts2 June 8, 2010 at 12:18 am
That should be “Bauer,” he of the aced lie detector test.
By Cam Crawford June 8, 2010 at 7:12 am
This is the most difficult sports decision I have ever had to make having attended both schools. If Coastal wins, it would be their first CWS and be huge for the school.
Ray Tanner is my favorite coach at USC. Tanner’s teams are almost always ranked in the Top 25. As usual, USC baseball’s success takes some of the sting out of the disappointing football and basketball seasons.
Fortunately, I attended Coastal Carolina and USC so I have a team going to the CWS.
Also, I want to wish the Clemson Tigers success and hope to see them in the CWS (so one of my teams can beat them):)
By piepton June 8, 2010 at 9:43 am
With the amount Sanford has cut from the higher ed budget, I’m not sure it’s accurate to say we pay for any of these colleges anymore. They might as well be private with the level of tuition required from each student.
By J June 8, 2010 at 9:52 am
Mypitts2, I disagree on spending more with higher education. I think if they were fiscally responsible they would police their own spending and cut their own expenses. Then they would have a lot more money to go around. I see the crap they spend money on! I really don’t think Clemson University should be using money to pay for monthly subscriptions to E-Harmony.com or anything else frivilous like that. But this is the kind of stuff I see and it makes me sick!!!! So I don’t feel sorry for these institutions at all…I feel sorry for the students and people like myself who are making student loan payments!
By BlackMagic84 June 8, 2010 at 11:00 am
I agree the Gamecocks suck at most men sports. Just glad Coach Tanner and the baseball team have more integrity and staying power than the football team. Best thing about Gamecock athletics is the women programs. Without the women, how many championships could they claim?
By Toyota Kawaski June 8, 2010 at 11:11 am
BlackMagic84 go suck down some steroids with Coach Kephart
By Crooner June 8, 2010 at 3:14 pm
Cougars were robbed on a bad call in the bottom of the ninth which would have won the game in regulation and allowed SC to host the super regional. But no way does Coastal advance: they are a higher seed but play in a much weaker conference where they racked up all those wins.
By Emanon January 20, 2012 at 9:45 am
Yeah the Cougars got robbed because they got their asses whipped. Both teams played an excellent game but CofC couldn’t stop CCU’s hitting, grand slam, and CCU’s strong defense. There are many pictures out there showing he was clearly out. You can also see the ref Mattingly clearly on top of the play staring straight at the amazing play. CofC was close but when it came down to it they choked the chicken.
http://www.goccusports.com/sports/m-basebl/recaps/060710aac.html
at 2:32 you can pause it and see the ball in the glove with the base runner 3 yards from the bag. Anyway it doesn’t matter, CofC could not beat anyone of significance other than CCU that year and would have gotten crushed by USC. CCU would have beaten USC had their 2 best pitchers Meo/Wheeler being out sick and with Matt Rein getting knocked out in the first inning of game one of the supers.
By Joe Schmoe June 8, 2010 at 5:22 pm
Clemson has made the Supers 9 of the 12 years, but no mention here. Of course, they’d probably prefer not to have their name uttered in the same breath as the coots and the faux coots.
By Doc Cock June 8, 2010 at 9:10 pm
Yep, Schmoe…KKKlemsux sure has an illustrious history in the NCAA postseason. 11 CWS appearances for the Taters, and what is their all-time record? 10-22 for a whopping .313 winning percentage. Compare that to THE University of South Carolina, with 8 appearances but a 17-16 overall record, including 3 runner-up finishes. So three fewer appearances in the CWS resulting in 7 more wins all-time. Guess it’s pretty obvious which school in the state has the better baseball program.
By Concerned Charlestonian June 9, 2010 at 12:24 am
Good point, Doc!
Personally, I hope to see USC and Clemson in the CWS so the Gamecocks can knock them out again.
By Joe Schmoe June 9, 2010 at 8:03 am
Hey Doc, the head to head record reflects a drastically different view. Just like in football, Clemson owns USC.
By No Name June 10, 2010 at 7:44 pm
Coastal very overated…only in on a home cooking call by refs covering the NCAA ass for awarding the cants such a high ranking.
Clemson is just lucky this year and they know it……to be in this spot after the year they had …well it is sometimes better to be lucky than good…..do not ignore Bama.
By CNSYD June 10, 2010 at 11:19 pm
Doc Cock, what are you saying by your choice of name? Does your cock need a Doc or are you Doc who likes cocks? Please explain.
By Emanon January 20, 2012 at 9:22 am
@No Name, Coastal was never overrated in this game. It is obvious you have no idea of any sports outside of whatever your team is if you even know anything about them, probably USC. CCU had 50+ wins and consistently beat the big boys. CCU was without their 2 star All-American pitchers against USC in this super regional and still had them beat in game 2 but due to being down their 2 best pitchers Gilmore had to leave in a tired pitcher which allowed Bowman to hit that game winning homer. CCU attempted to play one of the best pitchers but he was too sick to pitch more than an inning or two.
If CCU would have had their 2 best pitchers things may have been much different. Anthony Meo was sick and had not eaten for 2 days during this series. CCU’s pitcher Matt Rein was knocked out of the game in game one in the first inning.
USC won game one 4-3 and needed a walk off homer to win game 2 on a depleted pitching staff CCU had. Not too mention CofC was pitted against CCU and CofC was the one team that gave CCU fits that year. CCU went down early against them but battled back and beat them for the first time that year which also cause CCU to not get a chance to rest before the supers.
To say CCU was overrated is complete ignorance and makes you look like a complete idiot. Who won the CWS that year? What team played USC any better than a depleted CCU team? Nobody with the exception of I think it was Bama and USC just played awful that day. CCU was the better team and did it with 1/10th of USC’s money and facilities. If CCU would have been healthy USC would have been beaten. They almost got beat anyway by a team that did not have either of their 2 best pitchers and lost their 3rd of 4th best pitcher in the first inning of game one due to a collision.