Wofford College, SC

Limited number of scholarships hurts their overall competitiveness. They play a relatively weak non-conference schedule early on (or have in the past), then load up later. They face South Carolina and Clemson out of conference, and the SoCon is a tough conference in baseball.

Wofford is a great school academically. It's well respected and you'll get an outstanding education there. The baseball facilities have a nice "small college" feel, with the stadium really just part of the campus. You can walk up to the field from any direction, sit on the grass (or in the stands), plop down and watch the game.

Wofford was headed in the right direction last year and started hot. Injuries hurt the team badly and they stumbled late in the season.

HHH is correct about the scholarships. I think they only fund 4 total. I'd disagree a little about the non-conference schedule. In addition to South Carolina and Clemson they also played Georgia Tech last year. As I recall there were a few other NCAA qualifiers on the non-conference schedule.

From what I hear they've got a pretty good incoming class, including one highly touted surprise transfer from UC Irvine.

quote:

Originally posted by MTH:
I'd disagree a little about the non-conference schedule. In addition to South Carolina and Clemson they also played Georgia Tech last year. As I recall there were a few other NCAA qualifiers on the non-conference schedule.

Did play some fine teams out of conf.

Only had 5 conference wins in 2006 and 7 in 2005.
Mid season had 16 game losing streak where they were outscored 186 to 68

Like many schools that are not fully funded it will be difficult to be competitive.

Wofford started out 14-10 ... they looked to be competitive this year. The early competition only had 1 team with an RPI under 100 (Georgia), but they were getting ready for the much more difficult in/out-of-conference competition they had scheduled in the 2nd half of the season (South Carolina, Clemson, Georgia Tech ... not to mention the tough SoCon teams ... College of Charleston, Elon, Georgia Southern, etc).

Then the wheels fell off when they lost their two best pitchers and two best hitters to freak injuries and for extended periods. That's what led to the long losing streak.

It was actually slightly worse injurywise, but HHH has it close - 2 of their 4 projected best pitchers never even got to the mound last year and a 3rd was injured early in the season. And several other guys had injuries - one game during the season there was no position player starting in the same spot that they opened the season - 4 out and 4 moved around.

Their two new assistant coaches have added a lot of enthusiasm. I'd say things are moving in a positive direction, but with limited scholarships, tough academics, and a tough conference it is tough to make rapid progress.