South Carolina on trek for CWS

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Posted 5:36PM on Friday, January 19, 2007

COLUMBIA, S.C. - South Carolina coach Ray Tanner sees a club capable of returning to the College World Series. Whether that happens, though, is anyone's guess, Tanner said. ``I think that this team's good enough, talent wise,'' Tanner said. ``But it's projection, it's potential and that's something that hasn't happened.'' There are plenty who think the Gamecocks are a good bet to reach Omaha for the fourth time under Tanner after consecutive appearances from 2002-2004. South Carolina, which opened practice at Sarge Frye Field on Friday, starts as high as No. 3 in preseason polls. Led by a deep pitching staff and power-hitting sophomore Justin Smoak, the Gamecocks should be in the Southeastern Conference mix this year. Tanner is not ready to make guarantees. ``We may fall short of that but I think the talent level is good enough for pretty good things to happen,'' Tanner said. ``But that's a lot of talk when you got to go play between the lines.'' When South Carolina actually starts ``between the lines'' the season opens Feb. 9 against Oklahoma at a tournament at North Carolina-Wilmington the Gamecocks should prove formidable. The big stick should belong to Smoak, who started all 66 games his freshman year. He had 17 homers and a team best 63 RBIs. Smoak polished his game this summer, earning MVP honors in the difficult Cape Cod league, and is not awed by the challenges of matching expectations. ``I've got expectations for myself,'' he said. ``The biggest goal is to help this team get back to Omaha and hopefully win a championship.'' Tanner says you can see the work Smoak has put in to improve his game this year. Smoak is stronger physically and more poised in his approach ``to be successful individually and to help this team,'' Tanner said. Smoak is joined in the infield by Reese Havens, a fellow sophomore, at shortstop and new starters Travis Jones at second and James Darnell at third. The outfield is expected to be Robbie Grinestaff in left, Cheyne Hurst in center and heralded freshman Lonnie Chisenhall in right. Chisenhall, an 11th-round draft pick last June, comes in with same regard Smoak did a year ago January. Tanner hopes he can have the same impact in filling the outfield spot of reliable Michael Campbell, who led South Carolina with a .364 average. ``He's shown us he's a pretty good player,'' Tanner said of Chisenhall. It's the pitching staff where the Gamecocks are expected to shine this spring. Tanner said if had to choose today, Harris Honeycutt, Mike Cisco and junior college transfer Jay Brown would make up the rotation. Honeycutt, a junior righty, went 7-0 with a 3.33 ERA last year. The staff's ``x-factor,'' Tanner said, could be the left arm of Arik Hempy, who is recovering from ``Tommy John'' surgery he had last April. Hempy was on his way to solid season, starting 2-1 with a 2.65 ERA, when he felt pain in his left elbow throwing against LSU last March. While Hempy is throwing again and on track for a return, Tanner says he'd rather have his big lefty ready in April, May and June when games get that much more important. Hempy's OK with that. ``I want to get out there and do my thing,'' Hempy said. ``But if they don't need me, I'm here for support.'' Injuries in the pitching staff last year forced Cisco, then a freshman, into the rotation. He steady and solid throughout, finishing with a 7-5 record and notching 76 strikeouts in nearly 89 innings of work. If no one gets hurt, Tanner hopes he can keep power pitcher Wynn Pelzer in the bullpen as the closer. Pelzer, a junior righthander, swung between starter and reliever last year. Perhaps his most clutch performance came in the NCAA tournament regional clinching win against Evansville when Pelzer surrendered a run and struck out nine for the complete-game victory. Based on the past, there's a lot of reason for optimism about South Carolina's future. ``We're always cautious about looking at the past,'' Darnell said. ``We want to take what we've done and move forward.''