Coach Chad Holbrooks Comments/Notes from Fall Practice

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-- The biggest piece of news, in my eyes, is that barring Joey Pankake begging to be on the mound, his pitching career is done at South Carolina. Pankake, as you may remember, was shut down after his first inning on the mound during the fall and kept from throwing in any capacity due to discomfort in his elbow. He will begin a throwing program this week to get his arm going again but he will not pitch. He's too valuable defensively and offensively to risk his arm. He finishes career with 0.0 innings pitched.

-- The least surprising news but one of the most interesting things Holbrook said was Grayson Greiner is "very close to being irreplaceable" behind the plate. Holbrook said he'd be comfortable putting Logan Koch, the backup, out right now in a midweek game but not an SEC game. He said he expects Koch to be ready to catch against conference teams by the time SEC play rolls around. While there's a considerable gap between Greiner and Koch, there's an even bigger gap between Koch and the rest of the competition.

-- Holbrook said that he would find it real hard to pick a football player to be on this year's team with part of the reason being there is a roster full of players here for the whole fall and they'll just be with the team for three weeks in the preseason. It seemed like a nice way of saying, "Don't bother," which is what we've been saying for a while.

-- Competition is healthy for the closer role and third starter position on the weekend. Holbrook did a good job of not leaving any names out when talking about options. Cody Mincey has the inside track on closer and, from the sounds of it, Josh Reagan and Wil Crowe are two to really watch for final starters role.

-- With the way South Carolina's four middle infielders - Marcus Mooney, DC Arendas, Max Schrock and Jordan Gore - played this fall, look for them to see some action at third base, too. Holbrook said he's toying with the idea of getting three plus-gloves on the infield, which means having Joey Pankake or Elliott Caldwell in left with the other one DH'ing.

-- Called Jordan Gore a "tough nut" and said "I have to find a place for him." ... Weber Pike struck out three times in 70 at-bats. ... Called Connor Bright a "silent assassin."

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