The Sarge

BOTTOM 10 - Evan Marzilli up. He hits a lazy fly ball to center, but new CF Foster misplays it and it goes over his head. Wow. Marz stands on second with no one out. Gamecocks will have three chances to tie it with a home run. Matthews lines a two-strike single to right field. Walker hits one on the screws, but it's right at Foster in center. He makes this catch and allows the runner to tag. He just wants to keep Matthews out of scoring position. Gamecocks draw within one as Marzilli scores. Dantzler pops out about 10 feet short of the track in right. Grayson Greiner is the last hope for the Gamecocks. If he an split a gap, this game will be tied. Greiner, however, pops out in foul territory to first base to end the game. To correct my text, South Carolina can still win the East if both Florida and Kentucky lose today. LSU 3 - Carolina 2

TOP 10 - Beal walks Snikeris on four pitches, who is then bunted to second base by Hanover. Nine-hole hitter Jones up. He absolutely hits one right on the screws but it is right at Vergason. The ball was hit so hard it almost popped out of his glove. Lead off hitter Nola up. Jerry Meyers comes out to the mound. After falling behind in the count to Nola, Beal puts him on intentionally. Sets up a force out at any base. Tyler Webb coming in to face LHH Arby Fields. LSU counters with RHH Jackson Slaid. Webb throws three balls before coming back with two strikes. The count is full. Slaid goes the other way lining a single to right field. Adam Matthews can't come up with it cleanly to have an attempt to throw out the runner. Runners at the corners now with two down. LSU doubles the lead now with an RBI single back up the middle by Katz. Privette coming in now for the Gamecocks. He throws one pitch and hits Rhymes. That'll end his day. Munson comes on and Ks Moore with the bases loaded on some 91 mph heat. LSU leads 3-1

BOTTOM 9 - LHP pitcher Cotton still in there for LSU. He gets Pankake on strikes. Brison Celek pinch hitting now for Connor Bright. He goes ahead in the count 3-1, but takes a couple of vicious hacks trying to end this game on one swing and he misses. Cotton Ks his second of the inning. Vergason walks on five pitches to bring up Tanner English. He quickly goes down in the count 0-2 taking a strike then fouling a fastball back to the screen. English goes down swinging. Extra innings in Columbia. Tied 1-1.

TOP 9 - LB Dantzler plays a part in the first two outs of the inning. Fields a slow roller and fires to first on Rhymes, then catches a pop up in foul territory by the LSU dugout. Two quick outs for Beal. Make that all three plays. He cuts off a chopper in front of Pankake. Throws a little high, but Walker comes down and makes the tag on Edward for the final out of the inning. To the bottom of the ninth we go, tied 1-1.

BOTTOM 8 - Gamecocks can't ask for a much better spot in the order to come up. Walker is first pitch swinging and grounds into a 5-3 in your score book. Dantzler up and in a 1-2 hole. He's out in front of a change up and flies out to center for the second out of the inning. Greiner up. He grounds the first pitch to Nola for the final out of the inning. Score 1-1.

TOP 8 - Hanover with a lead off double down the right field line to begin the inning. Jones up there looking to bunt, but takes two strikes without offering at either pitch. Odd. After a ball, Meyers comes out to talk to Belcher. He throws a 55 foot curve ball which Greiner blocks up nicely. Jones, the nine-hole hitter, works the count full and then takes a fastball low for ball four. Lead off hitter Nola up. Belcher out, Beal in. No bunt. Falls behind in the count 1-2, but hits a fly ball to right field deep enough to get Hanover to third. Matthews bobbled the ball on the exchange and had no chance to throw him out after that. Fields goes down swinging at a great slider by the Bealster. Katz, who has the RBI, hits a slow bouncer to third. LB charges and makes a great play. Score tied 1-1. USC has Walker, Dantzler, Greiner up.

BOTTOM 7 - English goes down on strikes, Marzilli pops out to right. Two quick outs for new LHP Chris Cotton, who wears No. 58. Don't see that very often. Matthews hits a slicing liner to right and Edward makes a great diving play. Still 1-1 here at Carolina Stadium. LSU sends 8-9-1 in the order to the dish.

TOP 7 - Holmes still out there but Belcher and Beal warming in the bullpen. Katz with a line drive single to center to bring up Raph Rhymes, who is down to .474 now. Rhymes hits a line drive ticketed for right field. Vergason shaded up the middle at double play depth. He gets a good read of the ball off the bat and catches up to make a great diving catch for the first out of the inning. Great, great play. Hit-and-run by Tyler Moore, who grounds to second. Vergy's only play is at first. Runner in scoring position with two down and Jerry Meyers comes out to visit. Talks to Holmes about facing Edward, who is 0-for-2 on the day. Holmes hits him, and that will end the day for Holmes. He finished the day allowing one run on four hits and three strikeouts on 91 pitches. I'll be honest - that start really exceeded my expectation for him. Belcher comes in throwing nothing but looping curves. He gets Snikeris, who pinch hit, to ground out to Dantzler, who steps on the bag at third to strand a pair of runner. Score still tied at the stretch.

BOTTOM 6 - Pankake hits a soft liner to center. Caught by Fields. Bright up and hits a line drive right on the screws, but right at Fields. He comes charging in and the ball handcuffs him. Hits off the heel of his glove and falls. LSU will call in LHP Brent Bonvillain with a runner on first and one out. Bonvillain comes in, throws one pitch, it's a hit-and-run and also a 4-6-3 double play. One pitch and two outs is efficiency. Score tied 1-1.

TOP 6 - JaCory Jones singles to center to begin the inning. He leads the team with 10 stolen bases this year. They try to hit and run but Nola pops out to right center. There are a lot of things I would have done before that. One down, Fields up. They try to hit and run again. Fields lines out to center. Two down. They aren't going to get this runner past first base. Katz up with two down and looks at a breaking ball strike from Holmes on his 78th pitch of the day. Holmes throws a high fastball and it's a perfect pitch to get Jones trying to steal second. That was some stupid dumb baseball there. Certainly could have managed that inning better. Score 1-1.

BOTTOM 5 - Matthews pops a full count pitch out to right field. Eades now at 90 pitches. Walker goes down looking at strike three. Fooled on a slider that looked pretty good from here. May have been a touch outside, but too close to look at. Dantzler turns on a first pitch fastball for a double. Greiner up now. He pops out to short to end the inning. Still tied 1-1.

TOP 5 - Holmes back to the bump to face freshman Tyler Moore, who did a heck of a job yesterday behind the dish. He singles a 3-2 pitch through the right side for LSU's first hit since the first inning. Hit-and-run attempt by Edward, who hits a spinner to Walker at first. Runner is safe at second, but one down as Walker steps on the bag. Dozar hits a tapper back to the mound. It's slow enough to move the runner to third, but Dozar is out at first. Hanover goes down looking on a pay off pitch. Great work by Holmes to strand the runner at third base. Score tied 1-1.

BOTTOM 4 - Pankake lines out to left. One down. Bright pops out to center for the second out of the inning. Vergason is adjudged to have been hit by a 2-1 pitch. I guess it might have grazed his pant leg. English grounds towards the six hole. Not very hard, but Nola has almost zero shot because of English's speed. Runners on first and second with two down now for Marzilli. He goes down swinging at a breaking ball right down the pipe. Score tied 1-1.

TOP 4 - Fields pops up to Vergason at second base. I must have missed it earlier but apparently after he hit his double in the first, Fields did the little fish thing on his head. All of the fans start doing the fish thing as he runs back to the dugout. Katz hits a liner to center, but it's right at Marzilli. Hung up in the wind a little bit, too. Made for an easy play. Rhymes lines out to center as well, he, too, on the first pitch. Holmes at 49 pitches through four innings. He's exceeding my expectations for his start thus far. Score tied 1-1.

BOTTOM 3 - Evan Marzilli up and lines one to the gap in left center. Rhymes must have been playing in almost foul territory and Fields must have been close to right field because neither player was withing 50 feet of that ball when it hit the ground. Matthews is first pitch swinging and pops out to right, but plenty deep enough to get Marzilli home to tie the score. Walker then lines one off the top of the wall in right field for a double. Dantzler bounces out to first. Runner moves up to third base for Greiner, who is hitting .241 now after striking out his first time up. Make that two Ks for Greiner. He got got on a breaking ball in the first and now a fastball. They're doing a good job of mixing it up on him. Score tied 1-1

TOP 3 - Eight-hole hitter Hanover up. Falls behind to Holmes 0-2 and then pops out to Walker in foul ground. One down. Jones goes down swinging at some 90 mph heat. That was a pretty good looking pitch by Holmes. Make that two straight strikeouts for Holmes, his first two of the day, getting Nola. LSU leads 1-0

BOTTOM 2 - Greiner up and is fooled on an inside breaking ball. He strikes out. Joey Pankake has now reached base in 14 straight games and has a nine-game hitting streak going. That hit-streak is tied for the team best this year. Marzilli had a nine-gamer earlier. He dropped a single to right to bring up Connor Bright. He falls behind in the count as he fouls away a hit-and-run pitch down the right field line. He battles the count back full and fouls off a couple of tough pitches by Eades. Bright ends up fanning on an outside fastball but Pankake takes second base. Vergason up. He, too, falls behind early in the count but works it back to full. These guys aren't giving in easily at all. Seeing a lot of pitches will prove very beneficial later. Vergason works a walk. Good nine-pitch at-bat. English grounds up the third base line. Hanover makes a nice play to get the speedy freshman. LSU leads 1-0

TOP 2 - One pitch, one out for Holmes. He'll take as many of those as he can today. Moore pops out to center. Edward then grounds out to Pankake at short. Barring that one play yesterday in which he lost the ball behind the umpire, Pankake has had maybe his best weekend of the year this weekend. Dozar hits a soft liner to center. Marzili just made another absolutely remarkable diving catch. Gah, he's good. LSU leads 1-0

BOTTOM 1 - Evan Marzilli up and goes ahead in the count 3-1. I think my scouting report was a bit wrong on this Eades guy. He's got some good life on his fastball. Ran it up there at 93 a couple of times in the inning. Wait, there's a 94. Marzilli ends up going down on strikes for the first out of the inning. Matthews waits on a changeup, gets that front foot down, and drives it back up the middle for a single. Then he swipes second for his third SB on the weekend. Walker down in the count 1-2. Walker pops out to second. LSU employing a little mini-shift on Dantzler. Second baseman is swung around a few steps closer to first than normal. Dantzler grounds what would normally be routinely to second base, but Jones has to range because he's playing so far away and make an off balance throw. Makes a great play and leaves Matthews in scoring position. LSU up 1-0.

TOP 1 - Good news for Holmes is he has his velocity. I saw him as high as 93 mph on his fastball in the first inning. He got Nola to fly out to deep left on a full count pitch, but the wind is blowing in hard from left. Ball was poked, but caught. Holmes was missing up with his fastball. Fields turns on one and knocks it off the top of the wall in right field for a double, then takes third on a passed ball - Greiner's second in as many days. That's a product of catching so much with little time off. It just is. Katz does his job and bounces out to short. Pankake's only play is at first and he gets the out. Rhymes hits a sharp ground ball, but back to the pitcher for the final out of the inning. LSU leads 1-0

Perfect day for baseball. The SEC champions will be determined on this field today. If South Carolina wins, they're outright SEC champs. If LSU wins, they'll get at least a share of the title. This team doesn't feel pressure. Never has and I don't think will. They want this badly, too. If South Carolina does not win today, it won't be because they're tight and it won't be because they're not trying, despite what some have posted over yesterday.

There are a ton of recruits here and we'll have some info on them over the next couple of days. Been a very good weekend as far as that is concerned. Below are the lineups. Same as game two yesterday, as it should be. Stay tuned for more from the park.

South Carolina

CF - Evan Marzilli
RF - Adam Matthews
1B - Christian Walker
3B - LB Dantzler
C - Grayson Greiner
SS - Joey Pankake
DH - Connor Bright
2B - Chase Vergason
LF - Tanner English

RHP Colby Holmes

Louisiana State

SS - Austin Nola
CF - Arby Fields
1B - Mason Katz
LF - Raph Rhymes
C - Tyler Moore
RF - Alex Edward
DH - Grant Dozar
3B - Tyler Hanover
2B - JaCoby Jones

RHP Ryan Eades - 3.75 ERA, 5-2, 74.1 IP, 80 H, 31 ER, 21 BB, 49 K, OBA .283

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