Sunday, May. 31, 2009

Morris: Big win leaves USC sitting pretty in Greenville

-- Visit GoGamecocks.com at 6 p.m. Sunday for in-game updates from USC's next game in the Greenville Regional

GREENVILLE, N.C. | Book your reservations for Chapel Hill. South Carolina won the most important game of the Greenville Regional on Saturday, all but assuring the Gamecocks of a trip to the Super Regionals.

Sure, USC must win one more game to advance, but let’s be realistic. It would take a monumental collapse by USC and an unthinkable rebound by East Carolina for the inevitable not to happen.

“It’s hard to do, and a good team can do it,” USC coach Ray Tanner said of a team’s chances to fight out of the losers’ bracket in a four-team regional. “Certainly, East Carolina is good enough to come back and win this thing. We know that.”

Of course, East Carolina must first get past Binghamton this afternoon. The winner would then need to defeat USC tonight and again on Monday to win the regional. Not likely. But possible.

Following USC’s 12-2 victory against East Carolina, Tanner pointed out that his club rallied out of the losers’ bracket to win the 2001 regional in Columbia. USC twice defeated Central Florida on the tournament’s final day before losing a Super Regional to Stanford.

Those instances are few and far between in NCAA tournament history. Yet Billy Godwin, East Carolina’s coach, certainly believes it is possible.

“I think I’ve used this line before, but somebody told me that you have to lose two games to be out and we haven’t done that yet,” Godwin said. “I think these guys are focused and we’ll bounce back tomorrow. I can assure you of that.”

The most significant factor that would have to change for East Carolina to somehow overcome USC is pitching. USC has plenty at its disposal. East Carolina does not.

Blake Cooper made certain of that Saturday with the most improbable of performances. He did not just avoid rain drops in his complete-game 14-hitter — yes, 14-hitter — he managed to stay dry through a thunderstorm of East Carolina hits.

“You have to give Blake a tremendous amount of credit for pitching out of some pickles,” Tanner said. “He’s a cagey veteran. It’s hard to get off the hook like he did. I know at one point I believe they had left 12 runners on (base) and had about 11 hits and no runs. That’s really incredible.”

Through seven innings, Cooper had allowed East Carolina 11 hits, all singles and was still pitching a shutout. He escaped bases-loaded jams in the third, fourth and fifth innings.

“When I’m going good, I’m getting ground balls, and tonight they were hitting ground balls in the holes,” said Cooper, who watched six of East Carolina’s 13 singles squirm through the infield on the ground. “But I had to just keep on battling. I was able to do that and keep throwing strikes.”

Facing trouble in nearly every inning forced Tanner to get Parker Bangs throwing in the bullpen for much of the game. In fact, Bangs might have thrown as many pitches out there as the 130 Cooper threw on the mound.

“I took Blake out like three times, but then he kept going back to the mound,” Tanner said. “I tried to take him out. He kept looking at me like I’m starting to feel better. When you get in the tournament, if you’ve got a guy who can stay out there for you, that helps out your bullpen a great deal.”

USC used Curtis Johnson for two innings out of the bullpen in the opening-round win against George Mason. But Johnson probably was not going to pitch in crucial situations, anyway.

As a result, USC likely will start left-hander Nolan Belcher in tonight’s game and have right-hander Jay Brown ready if another game is necessary on Monday. The bullpen is at full strength.

Contrast that to East Carolina, which had to use its third starting pitcher — Brad Mincey — for one inning to nail down the victory Saturday afternoon against Binghamton. Mincey is likely to be the starting pitcher today against Binghamton.

“I personally think we’re in great shape,” East Carolina coach Billy Godwin said. “I think we’ve got some depth and we’re in good shape.”

Godwin then said he was not certain who would be his starting pitcher in today’s first game. It is the kind of predicament a team faces when it falls into the losers’ bracket and needs to win three games in two days. It is the kind of predicament a team faces when the team in the winners’ bracket has its pitching perfectly aligned to win one more game.

That is why USC can almost see Chapel Hill — assuming North Carolina wins its regional — from Greenville. It is a long, long ways away for East Carolina.

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