South Carolina senior right hander Blake Cooper had an impressive performance on Monday night against the UCLA Bruins as the Gamecocks picked up a 7-1 victory. Entering the game, Cooper was less regarded starting pitcher as he was facing off against UCLA sophomore right-hander Gerrit Cole who was selected in the first round of the 2009 MLB Draft by the New York Yankees but turned down the opportunity to pitch for Bruins. After the game was over, Copper had pitched eight strong innings letting up three hits and only one run while striking out 10 batters. Cole, on the other hand struggled all night letting up a season high 11 hits and six runs while laboring through seven innings.
College Baseball Insider co-founder Sean Ryan did an excellent feature on Blake Cooper on Monday evening talking about how his development as a pitcher has grown since he has committed himself to the game. Midway through last season, South Carolina pitching coach Mark Calvi sat down with Cooper to discuss his growing waistline and how the pitcher was losing his edge. After the heart to heart, Cooper traded in his fast food for Grilled Chicken and recommitted himself to conditioning which led to his great performance on Monday night. You can check out the full article from CBI by clicking here.
Blair Angulo of ESPN Los Angeles did a solid feature on losing pitcher Gerrit Cole who struggled mightily on Monday night giving up six runs and eleven hits in only seven 
innings to drop his season record to 11-4. Cole commented that the Gamecocks had a great approach at the plate but he couldn’t figure out what exactly they did different to cause him to struggle. His catcher Steve Rodriguez even commented that Cole had good stuff but the Gamecocks just battled at the plate. You can check out the full article from Blair by clicking here.
