The Daily Feed: April 18, 2012

Gamecocksonline: Gamecocks Fall 4-3 To College Of Charleston. I personally don't mind that we drop a game or two to our in-state rivals each season - after all, we did it during both our CWS championship years, plus it keeps the non-conference tilts interesting - not to mention the fact that it cements the Palmetto State as the premier college baseball state in the nation. Hopefully, we've filled our quota of mid-week misery and the selection committee won't hold these out-of-conference games against us in terms of regional hosting - so long as we take care of business against our SEC opponents, of course.

Post & Courier: College of Charleston baseball beats South Carolina, 4-3 - story by Darryl Slater. When Coach Tanner lays his head on his pillow at night, do the letters "LOB" appear in his mind's-eye? Thirteen stranded base-runners last night. Yikes.

Sportstalkgolive: Cougars love the long ball in win over Gamecocks (AUDIO). I feel the main problem last night (and likewise against Francis Marion) isn't so much the cold situational hitting - though it's certainly a big deal - but the fact that we've raided our mid-week starters in order to shore up our weekend rotation and bullpen.

Gamecock Central: Cougars feast on stranded runners. Then again, maybe it is the hitting. We ought to be able to give up four runs to the Cougs and still win.

Twitterverse: Or maybe it's just overall lack of focus. I love Tanner English but I don't think a pre-game backflip is appropriate when you go 1 for 4 on the night (though to his credit, Tanner did bat in two runs).

Perfect Game: Coming back to the topic of being a regional host in the NCAA Tournament, Kendall Rogers projects us to host UVA (2), Coastal Carolina (3) and UNCW (4). Man - with a draw like that, maybe a trip to Purdue doesn't sound so bad after all! Both the Hoos and the Chants would want the pound of flesh closest to our heart - and that's just for the appetizer; the Seahawks are nobody's pushover, either.

Post & Courier: Damontre Harris' high school coach says USC is trying to prevent him from going to N.C. State. Yup; I'd pretty much say that's the nut of it, Coach. If Tre Harris wants to go to NCSU next year, he'll need to pay his own way. Otherwise, he can go to dozens of regional programs that didn't tamper with us like State - whatever his H.S. coach says. The more Harris' camp fusses over the Wolfpack limitation to his release, the more convinced I am that there has been some shady business in Raleigh.

Sportstalkgolive: USC will not budge on decision to block Harris’ transfer to N.C. State (h/t theodometer). Good for Eric Hyman and Frank Martin. Don't give 'em an inch.

Bleacher Report: Alex Roberts posts 8 Post-Spring Game Thoughts. Alas, the powers-the-be forced Alex to do a slideshow - must be in his contract, or something.

CBS Sports: South Carolina: 3 lingering questions.

Aiken Standard: Injury to knee gives Lattimore a lesson by A.P. writer Pete Iacobelli.

Saturday Down South: Lessening Lattimore’s Carries Is The Right Call. On the other hand, if he's going to be a serious contender for the Heisman Trophy or the Doak Walker Award, then Marcus needs to get the carries to get the national buzz. What do you think?

Life of a Gamecock: The Gamecocks Secret Weapon - Tight End. I hope G.A. has been watching a lot of film on the New England Patriots; I'd love to see Cunningham and Anderson used like Gronkowski and Hernandez; and if Cunningham is the heir to Patrick DiMarco - just think how many times he will be open in the flat or for the dump-off from Shaw (the way Pat was for Garcia). Unlike our experience in the 2010 season, however, this year's QB1 might actually see the TE/RB is open on some of those plays; no matter how wide open Pat was that year, Garcia never seemed to notice.

Shakin' the Soutland: FigureFour compares the Tigers' recruiting to its main SEC rivals - 2012 Recruiting Cycle: Clemson/Others (Select SEC Teams & FSU). Like all of FigureFour's stuff, it's definitely worth the read.

Gamecock Anthem: Melvin Ingram visited Chargers, Bills. Let's see. If you were advising Melvin, would it be Qualcomm or Orchard Park? Now ask yourself - Qualcomm or Orchard Park in December? Hello, Bolts!

The Viking Age: Draft 2012: Vikings Have a "High Level" Of Interest in Alshon Jeffery. AJ1+AP+Ponder=Success; whether Alshon gets the first-round money he deserves, or gets picked in the second, however, remains to be seen - but he'd do well in Purple, I think.

Ron Morris: Coaching simply a business. Did I miss something, or does Ron mostly leave the HBC alone?

Andy Staples: Gary Pinkel, Missouri working to earn respect in new league. How about try this on for size, Coach - beat Georgia. Then you'll have our toal respect and undying affection. Until you play us, that is. (Side note - can we help Mizzou's find a measure of self-respect by banning their new Nike Pro Combat duds? Please?) .

NBC Sports: Speaking of lack of (self)(conference)(cartographic)-respect - New Texas A&M shirt contains so much geographic fail. What can one do but shake one's head and say "Aggies"? (Full disclosure - my old man was a tea sipper, so bashing 'em is in the blood). Anyway, talk about embarrassing - and the league presidents thought WVU didn't deserve a bid to the SEC because they didn't have top academics? At least the 'Neers know which states belong on an SEC map - and that would hold true even after four days of drinking and couch-burning in Morgantown. Sheesh.

ESPN.com SEC Blog: Y'all may have heard of this but if you haven't - Bama's BCS trophy shattered over weekend. Was it broken on Friday the 13th? Talk about some bad mojo. Saban hasn't released the name of the blasphemer - either out of fear for his safety, or concern the Dawgs will snatch him up and make him a star a la Orson Charles (the last known trophy-smasher); Senator Blutarsky thinks that The next stage will be somebody picking up a trophy and deliberately throwing it into a fireplace as a gesture of celebration.

I would so do that.

Have a great day, Gamecocks!