Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] On this episode of Cox talking Game. Cox, the baseball team has a nice series down in Florida. The championship parade happens in Colombia. And this podcast joins a really cool community. Okay, here we go.
[00:00:56] Okay. Welcome to episode 234 of Cox Talking Gamecocks. I am your host, Tim Cox, where I will keep every episode from 1801 to 2001. And I hope you all had a great weekend out there. Gamecock Nation, the Masters Masters weekend is great. I know I talked about this a little bit last episode, but that Sunday Masters couch nap is second to none. You know, you're locked in, but the leaders maybe just teed off or, you know, they're on the third hole or so. It's a long weekend. You're active, you're kind of resting. Now you get that little nap in for, you know, two, three holes, and then you're good to go for the rest of the way. I certainly enjoyed that. Scottie Scheffler, he's absolutely a machine. And then outside of that, closer to home, you had the championship parade going on for the women's national champs. Still is such a party down in Columbia. It looked incredible. The scenes and the support from the whole parade route, the celebration, the talks at the state house and everything like that. The Gamecock flag flying at the statehouse, just so incredible.
[00:02:15] And now it really is, all this talk about the revenge tours done. Now the repeat tour begins. I saw a sign that got posted online and said, are you ready for a little r and R? Revenge and repeat? I absolutely love that. But still trying to enjoy this moment as much as we can. I was actually going for a jog this weekend, humble brag. And I had my Carolina shirt on and some random lady said, go, Cox. Absolutely. The vibes are high. Vibes are absolutely high here. And then before I jump into a weekend recap and then discussions about the baseball team, wanted to share a really fun and exciting update with y'all here about the podcast. If you follow me on social media, you probably did see something along these lines. But Cox talking Gamecocks is happy to announce that I. We have been selected to be the South Carolina representative at the college huddle. So, the college huddle is a community of like minded fans creating content in a way that is really different than from anything I have seen before. So there's one representative from each school. There's a ton of programs that are represented from coast to coast, from the power five to the group of five. And the idea is that we all have podcasts, but there's going to be collaboration on different shows to discuss conferences to discuss college sports as a whole. But then there's also articles about that. So I actually just posted my first article on the college huddle. It is a spring football commentary, basically just thoughts of where the football team stands at this point in the spring. And I'll be posting articles there periodically, really geared towards South Carolina football, South Carolina sports and maybe a little bit of the SEC sprinkled in there, but really recommend go checking it out. It's a really cool site. It's only going to get better. There's only going to be more content. And again, what's nice about this is it's completely fan driven, where it's your everyday person like myself, who just has a passion for their college athletics and everyone coming together and sharing their ideas in a fun and exciting and fresh way. So it's the college huddle. Thecollegehuddle.com comma. I'll post periodically my updates and things like that from there, but was very excited to be asked to be part of this community and I think it can do some really, really cool things. So yeah, collegehuddle.com, go. Go find South Carolina. You'll see my first article there and then there's some other basic info about the show there. But if you listen to me, that would be sort of redundant at this point. But yeah, really excited to announce that. But let's get down to business here. Starting with a weekend recap from around USC athletics here. Starting out on Friday, softball unfortunately lost to Arkansas four to three. And then moving on to Saturday here, softball bounced back and beat Arkansas two to one. Women's tennis lost to Florida four to two.
[00:05:41] Beach volleyball, they beat Stetson three to two and then also beat FiU three to two. Our beach volleyball teams, like, honestly, like pretty solid. Like, I feel like every time I check they're, they're doing pretty good. I like that. And then Sunday, unfortunately, softball lost the series after they lost to Arkansas three to nothing. Men's tennis lost to Florida for nothing. And then beach volleyball, they split it here. They beat FGCU four to one and then lost to Florida Atlantic three to two. So sort of a mixed bag from around USC athletics there. I think outside of baseball, the highlight was probably the championship parade, which is really cool. And then also just some side note here, just quick picks. It was really neat to see Lamont Paris was out at football practice and then also Shane Beamer had Don Staley at football practice. So it's really cool to see just the coaches supporting one another. And then, especially when you talk about Don Staley to bring someone in who has built and created a championship culture, something that Shane Beamer is striving to do. Right? Get someone in there to say, hey, this was not given to us. You know, those of us who remember when Don Staley came in, you know, she had an impact pretty quickly, but obviously you have to build that and you have to earn it. And so talking about that and that, that message would resonate across sports. Right? And so really cool to see just the collaboration from around USC coaches here, but let's focus on some other scores that were happening here. Talking about the baseball diamond. As you know, I said it before, all eyes are on the yard. Cox here. And the guys were in Gainesville this last weekend taking on Florida. And, you know, the guys brought the good vibes with them as they were able to win the series. And really impressive. I think the Gamecocks winning this series in Gainesville, I think I saw like it snaps a home series winning streak for Florida that goes back, like, at least a year. Like, Florida has just been so good at home in general, and then Carolina comes down there, they take care of business, they win two out of three. And just for the Carolina Florida series in general, that always feels like it tilts to whoever is at home. And we knew this was a big weekend for the Gamecocks. I felt, going into this, that Carolina matched up well, had an opportunity to maybe go down and do that.
[00:08:36] And wouldn't you know it, they actually do. But it's funny because when they clinched the series after the second game, that actually marked four wins in a row, all against ranked teams. So you sit here and you kind of just got to chuckle because for all the woes and stress that this team has caused us fans so far this year, there are certainly some bright spots still. And this team has shown that they can beat highly ranked teams. You know, look at the Vanderbilt series and then this little win streak that they had up until Sunday, but nonetheless.
[00:09:22] So it's just this. I don't know. I think it's this inconsistency that before this weekend that we saw that that was probably what was frustrating most people, right? Where it was up and down and you'd have a weekend where the bats were working and then you'd go several games where they weren't.
[00:09:45] And maybe sometimes the defense wasn't there and sometimes it was, and the starting pitching had question marks. So maybe a big weekend on the road where the bats were hot is just what this team needs, like proving it to themselves that you don't have to be at Founders park to play well. And you can, in fact, play well against good competitions and you can, in fact play well and win when it's a close game, you know? So who knows? Maybe there's confidence going around this pitching staff as well with a few key guys who we need. So very fun weekend, big weekend for Carolina. Let's go through each game here and then I will get y'all out of here. Game one, things got started as about as good as you could ask for with South Carolina winning ten to three. But the funny thing is, with this game, it was actually close, like right up until the 9th inning where it was five to three going into that inning. But the Gamecocks, they called up and they got the premium insurance package putting up a five spot in the 9th inning. So you put the game away when it matters. Absolutely. Things that you love to see. But early in the game, you had early home runs, got things started for Carolina, and then in that 9th inning, guys really stringing together hits, building those runs, moving guys over, really came together nicely right at the end of the game here. Eli Jones got the start for this game and a win. Really nice outing for him, going six innings with six ks and just one earned run. Garrett Ganey came in after him and Chris Veech finished the game and closed the door for Carolina. So really from top to bottom, a really solid performance, just the exact way you want to start a series on the road.
[00:11:53] Your first starter, your ace, so to speak, performs exactly how you want them to. You give it to the next best guy in your bullpen and then the best guy in your bullpen, them three close the door, the lineup does the rest. That's exactly this formula, right? And you saw a little bit of both. You saw some power early in the game. You saw death by contact towards the end of the game. Hitting when it matters, hitting with runners in scoring position, that's the formula. Like, that is what we wanted from this team and we got it. So, player highlights from this game. Talmage leekroy, two for five with two RBI. Will Tippett, two for five with two RBI. And then Cole Messina went three for five. So also, you know, will tippett providing a little bit of that extra offense. And that is what it's going to take. You know, you have your couple of veterans that you're going to rely on, moose being one of them, Petri, of course, Lee Croy.
[00:12:52] But it begs the question, who's going to be that extra guy or two in any given series to provide some offense on a more consistent basis. You know, Tippett's a guy who, his defense is really good. There's the Tippet tribe out on Gamecock Twitter, right? But the offense has been lacking. Mark Kingston has shown faith in him, keeping him in the lineup, has made public statements when asked about him that he thinks the offense will come. And I think he might have been rewarded this series. So hopefully that is a sign of things to come as well for Tippett specifically.
[00:13:32] And then moving to game two here, Carolina squeaked, squeaked out this win nine to eight to clinch the series victory and again broke that long home winning streak by Florida in the process. And things got going right away with this one with a Petri bomb in the first inning. Carolina also scored three in the second inning. After Florida tied things up, Dalton Reeves had himself a nice day, including a home run here. Things got interesting, though. Anyone who watched this game knows what I'm talking about. But Florida had a big rally in the 8th inning to score four runs, bringing Carolina's lead to just one. So you were kind of comfortable late in the game. Florida rallies, you're all of a sudden in a pinch. So shout out Connor McCreary for getting out of that jam. And then bigger shout out to Tyler Pitzer for getting the save. I believe he struck out two in that half inning. Just incredible. Just bullpen stepped up when it mattered, got the huge outs, and Carolina goes on to get that victory. Ty Goode got the start in this one, got a no decision. Roman Kimball got the win. Actually, after he got into the game in relief, he went three innings and allowed three earned runs. So again, might not have been the prettiest one. You never like to allow a team to get right back into it like that, but the resiliency and the guts and the grit from that back end of the bullpen to get out of that one is exactly what you want to see, especially Tyler Pitzer. I mean, wow, player highlights from this one. Ethan Petrie, two for five with three rbI. Dalton Reeves, two for three with three rbI, and then will tip it two for five once more. And then game three will kind of cruise by this one here. Carolina was on the wrong side of this one, losing eleven nine. The Gamecocks did their fair share of plating runs throughout the game, but Florida, they just had two massive innings that proved to be the difference. Matthew Becker got the start and a loss going two and a third, allowed six earned runs. Dylan Eskew came in and gave three innings of relief. So very interesting. You saw Kimball and Esku both coming in, in that middle long relief role.
[00:16:05] Could be the play. Could be the play. Player highlights here. Parker Nolan, one for four with two RBI. Talmage. Lee Croy, two for four and Dalton Reeves, two for five with two RBI. So all things considered, this was a very successful weekend for South Carolina. I mean, again, on the road, which has been a struggle point for this team against a team that plays very well at home, a team that historically you have been back and forth with neck and neck with. So this team goes down there and provides consistent offense, good pitching, and again, played well against a ranked team. So again, you just kind of sit back and you say, maybe this team does have that. That makeup that. That we thought of. It's just seeing it on a more consistent basis. But to win two out of three on the road is massive. And then also, don't forget, they beat UNC on the road up in Charlotte. So you're seeing a little bit more momentum and this team playing a little bit better on the road.
[00:17:18] This team being able to win in tight games, being able to turn to that back end of the bullpen. A couple of different guys, right? Ganey, Veech, Pitzer. And then maybe, just maybe, like, I don't know if this rotation is perfect, right? Cause Ty Goode and Becker, they both got either a no decision or a loss, but maybe askew and Kimball coming out of the pen in that middle relief roll should you need them.
[00:17:49] Maybe that's the key here. Maybe you have these guys that are kind of floaters. Does one or two, one of them start in the mid weeks and then you just save them for the weekend? I don't know. But maybe, just maybe, that's sort of what their role is supposed to be.
[00:18:08] And hopefully we can. We continue to see that offense from around other guys. The bats were there this weekend. So up next for the Gamecocks is a midweek game Tuesday night against the Citadel in in Charleston. So this, again will be interesting to see who gets the ball to start this game. But hopefully Carolina can end up on the right side of this one because it is feeling good, you're feeling a little bit better, and you want to have that momentum once more as you go into a big series at home. But with that, y'all. That wraps up this episode. Please follow me on social media, Twitter or X is Cox Gamecocks? Don't forget about the college huddle. Instagram is just the name of the show. Cox talking Gamecocks and please, like, subscribe and review the podcast. I appreciate all y'all. Go, Cox.
