Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] On this episode of Cox Talking Gamecocks, baseball takes on the upstate team, softball remains undefeated, and women's basketball looks to close out the regular season strong. Okay, here we go.
[00:00:56] Okay. Welcome to episode 301 of Cox Talking Gamecocks. I am your host, Tim Cox, where I will keep every episode from 1801 to 2001. Hope y'all had a great week out there. Gamecock Nation, one of those weeks for your boy that just. It just felt like it kept going. Long week, maybe, because I'm looking forward to a big, big weekend in Gamecock Nation, which, of course, I will get to in a little bit here. But I hope y'all enjoyed the Kai Kroger interview from last episode. If you're hearing me now say that and you're like, what the hell is this guy talking about? Well, to celebrate episode 300, I brought back Kai Kroger for his third time for an interview, and we sat down and talked about the fantastic season that the team had past season, and his prep for the combine, which at this point, he's already participated in. And we're also seeing other Gamecocks participate in that and get ready to go going through the various drills, having interviews, press conferences, things of that nature. So aside from that, it was a really, really cool interview to have him on again officially with his blessing. Now can call him a friend of the program. I was already doing that anyway, but really nice guy was really cool to do that. So, yeah, if you haven't listened, hit pause, or after this, go check it out. But, yeah, it was really, really cool. And then, yeah, as I. As I just touched on, here it is combine week, so it's cool to see the clips that are coming out from the football team of our guys there. I saw Tonka doing a drill. Kai Kroger participated in some drills. I saw Nick Imanwari at a press conference say that there's no other DB like him, and I would agree with that. Compared himself a little bit to Cam Chancellor, which I think is actually a fantastic comparison. Big, strong physical safety, but nonetheless, really cool to see our guys pursuing the next step. And I'm sure on the South Carolina pro day, it'll even be more content coming out from the team. So really looking forward to that. But aside from that, there were a few things to go over a little bit of a week in review for y'all here. Looking back on Monday, men's tennis whooped Auburn 6 to 1, so that's impressive there. And then Tuesday, softball beat Charlotte 10 to 2. Don't look now, but our softball team is undefeated. They are 16 and, oh, I talked about it a little bit before, but, man, the job that coach Chastain has done in her first 16 games, right. Obviously she's been on the job for a few months now, but fantastic, Just incredibly impressive. Like, this team pitches really well, they have great defense, and then on top of it, the hitting is coming along and seemingly only getting better. Just a really great approach to the game. The culture seems to be a fantastic one, a great fit bringing coach Chastain home to lead this team. And look, I understand that it's before the conference schedule and that's going to be a different animal and there's probably going to be plenty of adversity that goes with that, right? But this is a fantastic sign, you know, to have a new coach come in and go 16 and. Oh, that's crazy talk. Like, not a little bit of a learning curve. You know, you drop a couple ones. This is how I do things. And you know, tight game, late game situations. No, just the team has adopted her philosophy seemingly right away, and it's paid dividends. So really, really cool to see. Shout out to Gamecock softball, but sticking to the diamond here. The baseball team was also in action Tuesday night as the guys ended up stomping Gardner Webb 14 to 4 in seven innings. Gardner Webb actually struck first, scored two in the first inning, but Carolina knotted things up right away in the bottom of the inning. And it was really just consistent offense all night, you know, just coming at you, just bludgeoning with runs. And it was really a big night for the power. You know, turn on the electric bill because the power is here. Seemingly as the Gamecocks launched five home runs in this ball game and ended up in a decisive victory. Jarvis Evans got the win for Carolina.
[00:05:36] Player highlights. Aside from that, you have Jace Reuta 3 for 4 with two ribbies. I like what I see from Reuta so far. You know, he had been in and out of the lineup a little bit, I think, as Minary is tinkering with the lineup and who he likes, where. But he's come up big a few times early this season here. Nathan Hall 2 for 4 with 3 RBI, and then Kennedy Jones went 2 for 3. But with that game in the rear view mirror because you had to pay respect and you got to take every opponent seriously.
[00:06:09] Now we can look forward and all eyes have been on the weekend series. Rivalry weekend is here. Fire me up.
[00:06:20] South Carolina taking on that damn team in the upstate the annual series as Paul Manneri looks to lead this team to his first victory, hopefully plural victories against the rival Tigers. And there's nothing like a good college rivalry. And then especially when we can take it to every single sport and we're looking to now go for the sweep. We're looking to take this series and beat that damn team in all major sports. And wouldn't that be something just further solidifying that this is our state. And just seeing the interaction on social media between our two rival fan bases, it's.
[00:07:06] It's comical to say the least to hear some of the things that these Tigers fans somehow think that they are just the best baseball program to ever walk the face of the planet. Meanwhile, they're trophy case is completely empty.
[00:07:20] Just mind boggling to me, truly. And I'm really looking forward to this one. You know, we love our baseball team. This is a fantastic series.
[00:07:29] I have mixed feelings on how it travels each game, but that's neither here nor there. At least that way it encompasses more of the state, which I think is pretty cool.
[00:07:41] Not gonna get into my potential cons of it all, but nonetheless it's a fantastic rivalry. Everyone's going to be tuned in and it's really a test for both programs. You know, you have Clemson sitting at 71 overall on the year and yes, this is an early season matchup for both teams, but it's a litmus test, right? Both teams take this sport seriously, both programs recruit well, both programs have talent. So if you can handle business against a good team like that and you're rival to boot, you might have something on your hands here. Right? You know, if this is a really competitive series, I think it will say both teams are, you know, in for a potentially good regular season here. But nonetheless you have Friday game one that's up in Clemson, going to be at 7pm Game two is in Greenville at 1:30 for first pitch and then Sunday's game, little bit of a later start for a Sunday game here, 5pm in Colombia. So do what you got to do on Sunday, you know, do your errands, whatever it is. You got plenty of time to go to the ballpark, plenty of time to turn it on TV and then get Sunday dinner going, whatever you want to do. The pitching rotation for the Gamecocks, it's a little different here you have Dylan Eskew, I don't want to say like working his way back from an injury because it was just a little bit of a strain. Paul Monary didn't seem too, too worried about it, but Nonetheless, you have Friday, Matthew Becker, Saturday, Jake McCoy, and then Sunday. Right now is TBA. But all indications point to SQ going Sunday if he feels up to it. I don't think you want to push it, especially your, you know, previously, you know, Friday starter. But it doesn't seem like it's too, too serious. I'd say it's 50, 50 shot he goes. But that could be an interesting twist there where, you know, he got a little bit extra rest to rest, whatever strain might have happened there. But your pitcher, who you trust to go on Fridays, going for us on Sunday at home in maybe a decisive game three, that's something right there. Very, very interesting. Now, my crow to the series here is it's nothing out of the box here, right? Just keep doing what you've been doing. Do what the Gamecocks have been doing for their winning formula so far. And so far, from my observation, that's playing sound, fundamental baseball, okay? Very few errors. They are tough outs. They don't back down. If there's some adversity runners on or if the team, you know, goes up on them, they don't fold. That's really been the formula that's worked. And then if you get some power to go along with that and get yourself a big inning or two, all the better, right? But just be a tough out. Run the bases well. Don't make silly mistakes in the field. Don't give them an inch. Let's freaking go. I want to win this series so bad, y'all. So bad. Like, this is always a fun series here, like on social media to chirp or just track the smack talk. But aside from that, it's your rival.
[00:11:01] And, you know, just. If we could get that one last thing. And that's the thing, too. They take it seriously. You know, they like to make arguments, you know, that they don't take maybe some of the other sports as serious, but it's like, nah, like, y'all love baseball. So do we. So let's go. Absolutely. So, so excited.
[00:11:21] But changing gears here a little bit. Kind of a lot a bit. We're talking men's basketball, y'all. And the guys were back in action Tuesday night in Mizzou. And so any hope of momentum to carry over from winning our first SEC game to translate into this game that. That quickly left the building, I'm sorry to say. Carolina ended up.
[00:11:48] Yeah, on the. On the wrong side of a bad1 here. 101 to 71 adjective I wrote down, and I'm choosing not to say, please notice but the adjective that I did write down to potentially think of was smoked. I'm not going to say that. I'm not going to say the Gamecocks got smoked. We were just on the wrong side of a bad game. That's how we spin things for ourselves. Mizzou, though, they have a really good team this year. You know, I mean, it's not an excuse.
[00:12:17] They are a very good team this year. If you're looking for a team that's maybe a tad under the radar for your bracket this year to go make a run, Mizzou might be your team. And side note, like, Mizzou could serve as a beacon of hope for South Carolina fans. Last year, that team under the same coach went over in the sec. They didn't win a league game. And for a long time it was looking that South Carolina was going to be in that same boat. But the school and the fans put resources towards this season.
[00:12:58] You know, I don't know too much about them, but they got some assistance. I'm assuming they had some holdovers of some key players. And now look at them. They're one of the best teams in the league, which in a very good league. So if you're down on this program, look no further than the team that just beat us as a potential model of how things can turn relatively quickly in sports. So just keep that in mind.
[00:13:32] But back to this game here. You know, Missy was just lights out. They were lights out from three in this game, especially in the first half. They went 10 for 12 from the line, 20 points off turnovers. And then pretty much on all of those accounts, it was the exact opposite for South Carolina. We should shot okay from the line actually, but three point shooting was tough. Back to a lot of turnovers. Didn't create a lot of, you know, second chance offense, things like that. So, yeah, it was a long night. Player highlights here. You had CMB go for 27. Jamari Thomas went for 17.
[00:14:08] Up next for the Gamecocks, Arkansas comes into town Saturday afternoon in Colonial Life. Arkansas is an interesting team this year. They're 17 and 11 overall, 6 and 9 in conference. Again, kind of a strange year with Cal in his first year there. They've had some big wins, but they've also had some weird bad losses at the same time, so don't really know what to make of it. Again, it's a tough league this year, but nonetheless, I don't know if Cal just doesn't have his guys there yet. You know, his teams were either kind of feast or famine, those last couple in Kentucky. That's not really including the postseason, but you know what I mean. So it's interesting. You know, it's kind of a similar record and kind of a similar story to Texas when they came, you know, or like when we played them. So, you know, maybe there's hope in this one to say that my crow to the game here is be the better rebounding team. You know, I haven't really talked about a lot of rebounding just because of the way that this season has gone. So that's a little bit more of a nitty gritty crow right there. And I think ultimately if we can create more second chance offense for ourself or if we do have bad shot selection or you know, maybe force some shots in a close game like sometimes we've seen if we can rebound better and give ourselves more opportunity and let our big men do some of that dirty work might behoove us. And maybe, just maybe that is a secret sauce crow to the game to win this one. So let's see how it goes. Regular season is winding down for the men's team. I know it's been a tough year for us all. It's been frustrating. There's a lot of what ifs.
[00:15:54] I think maybe, just maybe we might miss basketball season when it's gone. Maybe not like right away.
[00:16:01] Basketball's fun to watch, especially in person. So try to enjoy these last few games here. Try and then, you know, enjoy March Madness and again, you can turn it around. Look at Mizzou. So that's men's basketball but keeping to the hardwood here. Talking women's basketball. The ladies are taking on Ole Miss as I am recording this late tip off being out in Mississippi, 9pm Eastern.
[00:16:32] Yeah, that's late. So as we always do in these situations, I'm sending good vibes via the airwaves. I hope when you're listening to this it was a butt kicking, but Sunday it is the regular season finale. I can't believe it. Women's season is coming to a close here. The ladies are taking on Kentucky at home. Kentucky is currently ranked 15th, sitting at 21. 5 overall, 10 and 4 in conference. We'll see how things look as we get ready for tip off there. But as I sit here today, South Carolina and Texas are tied atop the sec. So this game could have major implications. And I'm no rules expert. I've seen some posts that like if the if the two teams are tied, it comes down to a coin flip because of the head to head. I don't. I don't know. That's crazy. If that's true, I think. Coin flip. That's nuts. But point being, you know, this team has faced more adversity, really, than we've seen in a little while in terms of. In the regular season. Right. But the fact that they are still right at the top of the SEC says all you need to know about the fight in this group, the culture in that locker room, and Don Staley as a coach. Right. Like, there's been some tough games, you know, and there's.
[00:18:03] There hasn't maybe looked the same as we're used to these last couple of years, but those might stick out more because we're just not used to it, which is the standard. Right. But you're still right at the top of the league, so think things are positive from that standpoint. My crow to the game. For the Kentucky game, the finale, I want to win the middle portion of the game. So to steal a football phrase here, they talk about the middle eight. Obviously, you can't use that same phrase in basketball, but I'd like to see the ladies dominate the end of the first half. Right? Let's call it the last two, three minutes of the first half, and then the beginning two to three minutes of the second half. Right? So basically end on a run and start on one, and that will just push away any chance and any run that Kentucky may or may not make.
[00:19:03] But with that, y'all, that wraps up this episode. Please follow me on social media, Twitter, or X is Cox Gamecox. Instagram is just the name of the show. Cox Talking Gamecocks. And please, like, subscribe and review the pod. I appreciate all y'all. Go Cox.
