South Carolina
South Carolina is the only SEC team left in the tournament that wasn’t guaranteed to be the host of the super regional after winning their Columbia Regional. They had some help as Oklahoma State pulled off the upset and advanced out of the Clemson Regional.
This team has guts. After entering the 2016 SEC Baseball Tournament as a 2-seed, they were bounced by back to back losses to Ole Miss and Texas A&M leaving them lacking the momentum they desired, then set to embark on the Road to Omaha. They were blessed to be deemed host of a regional, and in game 1 South Carolina fans were glad that they didn’t have to travel far back home as South Carolina was beaten 5-4 to the No. 4 seed Rhode Island. They then rattled off 4 straight wins to advance from the regional beating Duke 4-2, Rhode Island 23-2 (yes, 23-2), and UNC Wilmington back to back 10-1, and 10-5.
They are going to need a lot more than guts to tackle this Oklahoma State team. While South Carolina sports an impressive team ERA of 2.80, and an even more impressive team batting average .346, Oklahoma State is not impressed. Oklahoma State is number one in both categories since the Road to Omaha began last weekend. They have a team batting average of .385 and a team ERA of 1.00. A team ERA of 1.00 coming out of the regional with a National Seed, Clemson, is just ridiculous.
Next: LSU Favored by Too Much?
I’d love to take South Carolina in this one, but when a team is hot, a team is hot. Fresno State proved that in 2008. I’m not picking Oklahoma State to win it all, but I am picking them to advance on the Road to Omaha. With this pick, I am going against Vegas as 5dimes has South Carolina at -170 and Oklahoma State +140.