Foley’s Quick Hits for March 8th

Another Tuesday is in the books with a couple of interesting story lines taking place across the country.

The biggest story of the last couple of days has been the feud between the Clemson Tigers and the South Carolina Gamecocks which started up on Sunday with Clemson head coach Jack Leggett calling for a bat check on South Carolina’s Jackie Bradley Jr. It continued on with Clemson’s Will Lamb calling one of the Gamecocks pitchers soft. It boiled over on Tuesday night as the team’s wrapped up their three game series with the Gamecocks winning 5-4. South Carolina head coach Ray Tanner blasted the Clemson program after the game according to a report from John Whittle of the Big Spur. Here are a couple of highlights from the comments:

On Jackie Bradley’s Jr.’s Bat

“They called the bat out. When Shaffer hit it 600 feet, I guess I should have called their bat out. I didn’t appreciate it. I’m offended by it. I don’t cheat and I don’t allow my players to cheat. We haven’t done anything wrong. I felt like we were called out a little bit and I don’t appreciate it. I don’t appreciate what Will Lamb said about one of my pitchers. I don’t appreciate that. He’s entitled to say whatever he wants to say. I don’t like it and my players didn’t like it. End of story.”

On his relationship with Clemson head coach Jack Leggett

“I don’t think it’s what it was. There’s no question about it. I’m not happy with the situation and maybe nobody cares. That’s fine. I just don’t think what happened was appropriate. It’s not part of what this rivalry is about. We’ve had some great, great games. Tonight was great. They had us, we battled, they battled, and they almost got us in the end. That’s what it should be about and we shouldn’t have this conversation. I’m not happy about having it but I’m telling you how I feel. For many, many years, I don’t tell you how I feel but I’m telling you tonight. I’m not happy with what has transpired.”

I high recommend you check out John’s entire article on the comments by clicking here.

Lets get back to our original programming as I am starting to get tired of this batgate between South Carolina and Clemson that started up.

• Miami (FL) got great news on Tuesday as it was announced that Jim Morris was going to be coming back after missing the previous six games after having an infection to his gall bladder. The Canes played very sloppy again on Tuesday night committing four errors which lead to all four Illinois State runs but were able to scratch out a 5-4 11 inning victory.
• The national media has jumped on the bandwagon of the Cal State Bakersfield baseball program but they had their 10 game winning streak snapped by Fresno State with a 9-2 loss. The Roadrunners will now head on the road to South Carolina to take on the defending national champion Gamecocks for a weekend set.
• Sam Houston State picked up an impressive 7-0 victory over the Rice Owls behind great pitching performances from Cody Dickson and Justin Jackson. Dickson started the game going 5.1 scoreless innings giving up four hits and three walks while Jackson relieved him by going the final 3.2 innings giving up only one hit. Most importantly, they were able to keep All-American Anthony Rendon hitless in the game.
• The Oregon Ducks continue to scuffle as they lost to archrival Oregon State on Tuesday 4-1 which was their fourth loss in their last five games. The Ducks are a much better squad then they are playing at and will need to get better if they expect to be in the postseason come June.

Did I miss any stories today? Leave your comments if I did.