Baseball - On the Road to Hoover...
posted by Gameshots, 5/05/2009 12:22:00 PM
Opening Day at Carolina Park!
This has been a great team to watch this year but trying to figure them out is another story. David Cloninger and I went to Florida and returned home after being swept and turned right around this week and swept Vanderbilt decisively. Currently the team is in the thick of the race for the upcoming SEC Tournament in Hoover, AL.
Something that has been equally hard to predict each week is what the weather will be at game time. We've experienced games postponed due to rain or fog, but yet played a game with a temperature of 38 and a windchill factor of 28 degrees(Kentucky).
Some of the recent baseball news regards changes for next season. Next year the season will start one week earlier, after two years of playing only 13 weeks the teams will be back to the 14 week schedule and play 56 games. "I'm ecstatic," South Carolina head coach Ray Tanner said in response to the NCAA's much anticipated vote. "This will allow us to have less five game weeks and protect the academic integrity of our student athletes. I'm a big proponent of playing no more than four times per week."
Since this is a 'photo blog', I will say that the student athletes won't be the ONLY ones that will appreciate the new schedule as I can attest to how brutal the five day a week can become for the media that cover the games and for the fans. It's great to be able to post to my blog again as I've been busy shooting five days a week of baseball (home and away) but also basketball (home and away) and football practice (home only!) for a while when the sports overlapped. It seemed that if I wasn't at a game or practice, I was on the road either coming or going to one.
Today's blog shares a few images from various recent galleries.
Ribbon cutting ceremony on Opening Day.
The Friday night game at Mississippi State postponed due to conditions.
Scott Wingo applying the tag on the attempted steal.
Talk about COLD. Windchill of 28 degrees for the Sunday game at UK.
The outfield sign did not relate to playing in the cold weather, as Whit throws the ball into the infield as DeAngelo backs up the play.
Some are more 'bundled' than others...
Bobby Haney forces the runner and throws on to first.
Drew Crisp lays down the sacrifice bunt.
One of the nice features of Carolina Park is the fact that we can now shoot pictures from the outfield!
A unique perspective of Whit Merrifield catching the ball over the wall in Center Field and preventing the home run.
And from the opposite side of the stadium, we can get good shots of the pitchers (Nolan Belcher pictured) delivering the ball to the plate.
Ray Tanner and Jack Leggett in the Umpire Meeting at home plate. Carolina won the game.
Jackie Bradley Jr sliding safely into second.
Celebration in the bottom of the 9th inning in the come from behind victory over Clemson.
Whit Merrifield doing it again as he catches the wannabe home run in Center Field.
Casey Rihn, playing 2nd base, makes the catch of the ball heading into the hole for the out (at Florida).
DeAngelo Mack is safe at home (at Florida).
Scott Wingo slides into 3rd base after hitting a triple.
Justin Dalles behind the plate prepares to throw the ball back to the pitcher.
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- This weekend, we're in Knoxville...
Opening Day at Carolina Park!
This has been a great team to watch this year but trying to figure them out is another story. David Cloninger and I went to Florida and returned home after being swept and turned right around this week and swept Vanderbilt decisively. Currently the team is in the thick of the race for the upcoming SEC Tournament in Hoover, AL.
Something that has been equally hard to predict each week is what the weather will be at game time. We've experienced games postponed due to rain or fog, but yet played a game with a temperature of 38 and a windchill factor of 28 degrees(Kentucky).
Some of the recent baseball news regards changes for next season. Next year the season will start one week earlier, after two years of playing only 13 weeks the teams will be back to the 14 week schedule and play 56 games. "I'm ecstatic," South Carolina head coach Ray Tanner said in response to the NCAA's much anticipated vote. "This will allow us to have less five game weeks and protect the academic integrity of our student athletes. I'm a big proponent of playing no more than four times per week."
Since this is a 'photo blog', I will say that the student athletes won't be the ONLY ones that will appreciate the new schedule as I can attest to how brutal the five day a week can become for the media that cover the games and for the fans. It's great to be able to post to my blog again as I've been busy shooting five days a week of baseball (home and away) but also basketball (home and away) and football practice (home only!) for a while when the sports overlapped. It seemed that if I wasn't at a game or practice, I was on the road either coming or going to one.
Today's blog shares a few images from various recent galleries.
Ribbon cutting ceremony on Opening Day.
The Friday night game at Mississippi State postponed due to conditions.
Scott Wingo applying the tag on the attempted steal.
Talk about COLD. Windchill of 28 degrees for the Sunday game at UK.
The outfield sign did not relate to playing in the cold weather, as Whit throws the ball into the infield as DeAngelo backs up the play.
Some are more 'bundled' than others...
Bobby Haney forces the runner and throws on to first.
Drew Crisp lays down the sacrifice bunt.
One of the nice features of Carolina Park is the fact that we can now shoot pictures from the outfield!
A unique perspective of Whit Merrifield catching the ball over the wall in Center Field and preventing the home run.
And from the opposite side of the stadium, we can get good shots of the pitchers (Nolan Belcher pictured) delivering the ball to the plate.
Ray Tanner and Jack Leggett in the Umpire Meeting at home plate. Carolina won the game.
Jackie Bradley Jr sliding safely into second.
Celebration in the bottom of the 9th inning in the come from behind victory over Clemson.
Whit Merrifield doing it again as he catches the wannabe home run in Center Field.
Casey Rihn, playing 2nd base, makes the catch of the ball heading into the hole for the out (at Florida).
DeAngelo Mack is safe at home (at Florida).
Scott Wingo slides into 3rd base after hitting a triple.
Justin Dalles behind the plate prepares to throw the ball back to the pitcher.
Link to this entry - Discuss this entry - Return to Blog Home
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Paul Collins. Paul has been a GamecockCentral photographer since 2005, with a focus on Gamecock football, men's basketball and baseball. He may be reached by email at paul(at)gamecockcentral.com. Replace (at) with @.