Any discussion of who's hot for the Gamecocks has to start out with redshirt freshman DH Phil Disher, who earned regional MOP honors in Charlottesville. Disher went 3 of 14 at the plate, but all three of his hits were home runs, as he slugged .857 and drove in 10 runs on the weekend, playing in a park that is notoriously tough to hit home runs in.

Meanwhile, true freshman 1B Justin Smoak was left off the All-Tournament team in Charlottesville, thanks to the hot hitting of ACC Player of the Year Sean Doolittle, but hit .417 for the regional. Senior 3B Neil Giesler did make the All-Tournament team with a .375 average on the weekend.

On the mound, the Gamecocks made it through the Charlottesville regional on the strength of some outstanding starting pitching. South Carolina got complete games from freshman Mike Cisco and junior Wynn Pelzer in the opening and closing games of the regional, respectively, and six strong innings from sophomore Harris Honeycutt in the second game.

In the three South Carolina wins, the Gamecocks' starting pitchers threw a total of 380 pitches, including an astounding 134 for Cisco. The Gamecock bullpen was largely untested, and if the starters cannot deliver at this level again next weekend, the Bulldogs could wind up having a field day at the Gamecocks' expense.

That certainly wouldn't be a change from earlier in the year, as Georgia is 4-0 against South Carolina this year. The Bulldogs swept the regular season series in Athens on May 5, 6 and 7, then eliminated the Gamecocks from the SEC tournament with a 16-10 win on May 26.

The Gamecocks played very well in the field in their wins, but sttuggled mightily in their only regional loss, allowing nine unearned runs in a 15-5 loss to Evansville on June 4. The Gamecocks will need to continue their strong fielding, as displayed in their three wins, if they hope to defeat the Bulldogs.

Overall, the Bulldogs have to be the favorite in this series, but the Gamecocks have already shown themselves to be capable of surprises in this tournament, and if Disher can continue to crush the ball, and the Gamecock starters turn in the kind of performance they did in Charlottesville, and upset of UGA is certainly attainable.