The 2016 baseball season did not end the way South Carolina fans might have hoped as the team was bounced from the postseason in a two-game sweep at the hands of the Oklahoma State Cowboys. While the Gamecocks were playing at home in Founders Park, making the loss tougher to swallow, this team accomplished its most important goal: Bringing South Carolina back to the national landscape.
If you told a fan that after missing the 2015 NCAA Tournament, the Gamecocks would win 20 conference games, claim the SEC East title (after being projected to finish third in the division during the preseason), win a regional and host a super regional, it's hard to believe that fan would be anything short of elated. When you take into account the youth of this South Carolina team, that list of achievements becomes all the more impressive.
Of players with more than 82 at-bats in 2015, Gene Cone led the returners in batting average at just .257. Clarke Schmidt was asked to be the ace after posting a 4.81 ERA as a freshman, and no one had a clue what kind of production the Gamecocks could get out of a large crop of newcomers.
Quickly, those questions turned into answers as Cone was one of four starters to turn in a batting average of at least .314 this season, Schmidt thrived as the Friday starter for the majority of the season, and six position players made at least 30 starts in their first seasons in Columbia. And that goes without mentioning the success of freshmen Braden Webb and Adam Hill, who posted a combined record of 17-6 while filling out the weekend rotation.
No one expected this team to be as good as it was. Plenty of people were calling for Chad Holbrook's head after last year's 32-25 campaign. But these Gamecocks made the turnaround, making the Carolina pinstripes relevant in college baseball again. And with the young talent coming back, expect the Gamecocks to be playing deep into June next year.