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By Collegebaseball360.com Editor Sean Stires

It’s starting to look more and more like winter in most parts of the country, but since the calender still officially says it’s fall we’ll continue with our latest Fall Notebook…

UCSD head coach Dan O'Brien (jacket) and his Tritons could be headed to the Big West.

A Big West Boom?

We started last week’s Notebook with the news that TCU was headed to the Big East Conference. This week we start with news that Hawaii, Cal State Bakersfield and UC San Diego have each applied for membership in the Big West Conference. Hawaii plans to join the Mountain West Conference for football, but the rest of its sports would join the Big West if membership goes through. The Big West would make travel much easier for Hawaii’s non-revenue sports since all nine current Big West teams are located in California.

Keep in mind, it’s UC San Diego – as in the Tritons –  not the University of San Diego – as in the Toreros – that wants to join the Big West. Dan O’Brien’s Tritons were the Division II national runner-ups this past season after advancing to the D II national semifinals in 2009. This year’s team won a school record 54 games with a record low eight losses. They would obviously have to make the move to Division One though to join the Big West.

CS Bakersfield, coached by Bill Kernen, just began playing college baseball in 2009 as part of the school’s transition to Division One. The Roadrunners won 13 games in 2009 and doubled that to 26 victories last season.

The Big West had put a moratorium on conference expansion back in 2005, but it just ended that ban last month.

The Call Of The Hall…

1988 NCAA Player of the Year John Olerud (courtesy Washington State)

He’s a long shot for induction, but former Washington State star John Olerud is on the Baseball Writers’ Association of America Hall of Fame ballot for the first time. The 17-year MLB vet was the 1988 college baseball Player of the Year. He was 15-0 with a 2.49 ERA on the mound that year, while also batting .464 with 23 home runs and 81 RBIs. Olerud was an integral member of the Toronto Blue Jays‘ World Series winning teams in 1992 and ’93, but his 2,239 career hits and 255 home runs are far from HOF benchmark numbers.

Other former college players in this year’s Hall of Fame ballot are: Mark McGwire (USC), Bret Boone (USC), Barry Larkin (Michigan), Bobby Higginson (Temple), Rafael Palmeiro (Mississippi State), Charles Johnson (Miami), Tino Martinez (Tampa), Kirk Rueter (Murray State), John Franco (St. John’s), and B.J. Surhoff (North Carolina). Franco tossed a pair of no-hitters during his freshman year at St. John’s. Surhoff was the National Player of the Year in 1985. He was inducted into the College Baseball Hall of Fame earlier this year.

The results of HOF voting will be announced on January 11, 2011. The induction ceremony is July 24 in Cooperstown, NY.

Tigers Get Their Rings…

The Clemson baseball team recently received its 2010 College World Series rings. Jack Leggett’s squad received its hardware before last week’s Clemson-Michigan basketball game at Littlejohn Coliseum. Clemson finished 2010 with a 45-25 record after making its 12th trip to Omaha. CLICK HERE to see the video.

The Scouts Like Nino…

Nino Girratano

The Northern California Scouts Association has named University of San Francisco head coach Nino Giarratano its four-year college baseball Coach of the Year. The NCSA is comprised of at least 70 scouts who work for the 30 MLB clubs. Of Giarratano, Florida Marlins scout John Hughes said “He does such a great job at USF and his coaching staff does a great job overall. They do more than coach baseball at USF — they develop kids into great people. Nino is cooperative and communicates well with Major League Baseball scouts so that he can do what’s best for his players.” Giarratano was the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team head coach this past summer.

Two-Sport Playoff Push…

If you saw our latest Two-Sport Report last week, you know that several college baseball players who also play football were involved in the FCS (formerly I-AA) playoffs last week. In a head to head match-up, Landon Bennett (punter) and Wofford knocked Jacksonville State and freshman QB Coty Blanchard out of the playoffs with a 17-14 win. Wofford now takes on Georgia Southern.

Defending FCS national champion Villanova beat Stephen F. Austin 54-24 to advance to the FCS quarterfinals and the Wildcats have three baseball/football players. Matt Szczur (signed with the Chicago Cubs last summer) scored a touchdown, while Marlon Calbi threw a TD pass. Villanova next faces Appalachian State.

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A Look Around The Country At Saturday’s NCAA Action

• The hitting streak continues, but the season is over.  Garrett Wittels extended his hitting streak to 56 games in Florida International’s 15-9 loss to Dartmouth.  The loss eliminated FIU from the Coral Gables Regional.  That means Wittels will begin the 2011 season needing hits in his first two games to tie Robin Ventura for the all-time Division One record hit streak.
  

  Garrett Wittels (FIU photo)

• ““Teams are gonna know what to anticipate.  He likes to drive the ball away.  Look for some teams to try to different things next season.  Try busting him hard inside.  Nobody tried to do that.  We know he can push the ball into right center field, but can he turn on the ball?  I think that’s gonna be the test.”  That’s what ESPNU studio analyst Jay Walker had to say about Wittels and how other teams might approach him next year.  So let me get this straight…Wittels batted .409 this season, hit safely in 56 games, smacked 20 doubles, and came to the plate 237 times, but nobody ever challenged him inside once and he never once turned on the ball?  Great analysis Jay (I hope the sarcasm is detected)!  Anyone who hits in 56 straight and bats .400 over the course of the season is going to do it by going to all fields.  More great analysis by someone we’ve never heard of who probably saw all of eight of Wittels’ at-bats this season.
• Dartmouth clean-up batter Jason Brooks was 2-for-5 in the win over FIU with a grand slam and a total of 6 RBIs.  The win was the first for Dartmouth in the NCAA Tournament since 1987 and the first for the Ivy League since Princeton won a game in 2004.
• Not to be outdone, Illinois State got its first NCAA win in 34 years by downing St. Louis 8-3 in the Louisville Regional elimination game.  Kevin Tokarski homered and drove-in four.
  

  Anthony Rendon (Rice photo)

• Anthony Rendon jacked 3 HR and totaled 7 RBIs to lead Rice to a resounding 19-1 elimination game win over Rider at the Austin Regional.  With the Owls leading 11-0 Wayne Graham lifted starter Taylor Wall after 3 2/3 hitless innings.
• Southern Mississippi’s Taylor Walker was 4-for-4 with a home runs, 4 runs and 4 RBIs in an Auburn Regional elimination win over Jacksonville State.
• Matt Weisinger hit two of St. John’s‘ four home runs in Charlottesville to help the Red Storm eliminate VCU 8-6.
• Baylor beat Lamar 6-5 in Ft. Worth.  Logan Vick had his 29th extra base hit to set a freshman school record.
• Florida Atlantic had a season-high 18 hits to eliminate Bethune-Cookman with a 12-6 win in Gainesville.
• Buddy Sosnoskie belted two HR with 6 RBIs to help Virginia Tech beat Bucknell 16-7.
• Stony Brook eliminated North Carolina State with a 6-2 win in Myrtle Beach.  Sophomore Tyler Johnson (10-3) set a new Seawolves single-season record for wins.  Johnson notched 10 Ks in 8 IP.
• Tyler Garwal hit a walk-off home run to keep Oral Roberts‘ season going with a 9-8 win over Cal in Norman.  The Golden Eagles hit 4 HR and won despite walking 9 batters.
• Francis Larson hit his 25th career home run to help UC Irvine beat Kent State 19-9 in the L.A. elimination game.  Larson has now hit the most home runs in Anteater history.
  

  Neil Holland (UofL photo)

• Louisville’s 7-1 win over Vanderbilt set a program record with the 50th win of the season for the Cardinals.  Neil Holland got his 17th save with 3 shutout innings of one hit ball.
• How confident was Louisville head coach Dan McDonnell that his team could start Regional play 2-0?  Cardinal ace Thomas Royse (9-1, 2.91 ERA) did not start either of his team’s first two games.  He’ll start Sunday, which is the final game of McDonnell’s 3-game suspension.
• Mike Olt is UConn’s all-time home run (44) and RBI (177) leader after belting two long balls with a career-best 8 RBIs as the Huskies routed Central Connecticut State 25-5.  UConn now faces Oregon, which lost 6-4  to Florida State.
• Rain and lightening caused two hours and 28 minutes of delay, but Miami cruised to a 14-1 win over Texas A&M.  Hurricane 1B Scott Lawson was 4-for-6 with 3 HR and 6 RBIs.
• Danny Hultzen gave-up 6 earned runs in 6 IP, but still improved to 10-1 as Virginia beat Ole Miss. 13-7.  The Cavaliers tied a school record with their 49th win.
• Mike Ferraro was 4-for-6 with a home run, two doubles and 6 RBIs to lead San Diego to a resounding 22-1 elimination game win over Wisconsin-Milwaukee in Tempe.
• Here’s a lesson to the kids at home: ALWAYS RUN IT OUT.  Stanford’s Colin Walsh hit a fairly routine fly ball to left field, but Cal State Fullerton’s Casey Watkins dropped it.  Walsh motored all the way to third on the play and scored on a single by Stephen Piscotty.  The Titans still won 6-5 thanks to a pair of 2-run home runs by Christian Colon.
• Stanford goes 0-2 at the Fullerton Regional.  It’s just the second time Stanford has gone two and out in Regional play.  The last time it happened was in 1994 in Austin, TX.
• There were a total of seven upsets on Saturday.  Five #4 seeds won, with three of those wins vs. #2 seeds.  Two #1 seeds lost to #2 seeds.
• Minnesota is the Cinderella of the Regionals so far.  The fourth-seeded Golden Gophers downed #3 New Mexico 6-4 in 10 innings the Fullerton winner’s bracket game to go to 2-0.
• Scott Matyas struckout 8 in three scoreless, hitless innings of relief to improve to 5-1.
• Eight of Saturday’s Regional games were decided by double digits.
• Citadel’s 1-3 batters combined to go just 2-for-12 in their 9-4 loss to South Carolina.  The Gamecocks used a 5-run 7th inning to take the win.
• Starting pitchers Blake Cooper (11-1) of South Carolina and Asher Wojciechowski (12-3) of The Citadel combined for 23 strikeouts and just 4 walks.
  

  Trevor Bauer (UCLA photo)

• Trevor Bauer had 11 strikeouts to lead UCLA to a 6-3 win over defending national champion LSU in the L.A. winner’s bracket game.  Anthony Ranaudo had 10 Ks in the loss.
• The Bruins (45-13) tied a program record for most wins in one season.  It equals the win total from the Bruins’ 1997 team (45-19-1), which was the last UCLA program to go to the College World Series.
• Junior Casey Harman tossed the first complete game of his career to help #2 seed Clemson topple #1 Auburn 5-2  in Auburn.  Harman scattered five hits with 8 strikeouts.
• Arizona State’s Seth Blair is 12-0 after giving-up just a run in 7 IP as the overall #1 seeded Sun Devils rolled Hawaii 12-1.
• Joe Weik smacked two home runs and had a career-high 6 RBIs to help TCU down Arizona 11-5.  The Horned Frogs improve to 48-11 to tie the school record for wins in a season.
• TCU pitchers Matt Purke (13-0) and Tyler Lockwood combined for 10 strikeouts, making TCU 21-0 when its pitchers have at least 10 Ks in a game.

UAB To Open Season Feb. 23 At Mississippi State

UAB head coach Brian Shoop

title in 2008.

Complete 2010 UAB Schedule

“We think it’s important to play great teams, and we’ve taken a trip like this every year,” UAB head coach Brian Shoop said. “We’re to the point now where we feel like we can compete at that level. It allows our guys the opportunity and forces them into the challenge of playing the best in the country. I think as long as you continue to improve mentally, you get better in every aspect by doing that.

“And that will certainly be good preparation for the remainder of our schedule, which is always tough. There are no easy wins out there.”

The Blazers’ early-season schedule also includes home weekend series with Ball State (Feb. 26-28), Eastern Illinois (March 5-7) and Western Illinois (March 19-21). Ball State won the Mid-American Conference West Division a season ago, and Eastern Illinois, the defending Ohio Valley Conference regular season champion, is receiving votes in the preseason Collegiate Baseball poll. UAB also has a home series later in the season against Manhattan (April 24-25), the defending Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference regular season champion.

The Ball State and Eastern Illinois series are part of a season-long nine-game homestand that follows UAB’s season-opening midweek game Feb. 23 at SEC foe Mississippi State.

The Blazers get into Conference USA play March 26-28 with a home series against 2009 College World Series participant in Southern Mississippi. The home league slate also features series at Young Memorial Field against Marshall (April 9-11), Houston (April 30-May 2) and Tulane (May 14-16).

UAB will go on the road for conference series at UCF (April 2-3), defending regular-season champion East Carolina (April 16-18), Memphis (May 7-9) and perennial power Rice (May 20-22).

The 24-game league schedule builds toward the 2010 Conference USA Championship, slated for May 26-29 at Houston’s Cougar Field. The tournament has been reformatted to include the top six finishers in a pool play tournament. Previously, the event featured eight teams in a traditional double-elimination bracket.

The Blazers’ 2010 midweek slate is highlighted by home-and-home matchups with in-state rivals Alabama, Troy, Samford and Jacksonville State. For the fifth straight year, UAB will host Alabama at Regions Park, home of the Double-A Birmingham Barons, when the teams meet on March 31. UAB and Jacksonville State will meet four times in midweek games, twice in Birmingham and twice in Jacksonville.

(Release)

Bulldogs open the 2010 season on Feb. 19 vs. Marshall

Samford Head Coach Casey Dunn

single games on Feb. 19 and 21, and a doubleheader on Feb. 20.

Complete 2010 Samford Schedule

“We’ve brought in some quality non-conference opponents,” Dunn said. “We’re bringing in Marshall out of Conference USA and also Minnesota and Michigan State out of the Big 10. These are teams that play good baseball but who people in our state are not used to seeing on a regular basis. We feel like the strength of our non-conference schedule should be great for us as we prepare for a tough conference schedule.”

The Bulldogs will play their next four games on the road. Samford plays at Troy on Feb. 23, and then plays a three-game series at Kennesaw State Feb. 26-28.

Samford will play host to the University of Alabama on Mar. 2. The Bulldogs and the Crimson Tide will square off at 6 p.m. at Joe Lee Griffin Field.

Samford will welcome Evansville to Joe Lee Griffin Field for a three-game series Mar. 5-7. The Bulldogs will play host to the first of two Big 10 opponents when they take on Michigan State on Mar. 9 at 6 p.m.

After paying at in-state rival Jacksonville State on Mar. 10, Samford will open Southern Conference play at College of Charleston, Mar. 12-14.

“This is a great conference with very good baseball,” Dunn said as his team prepares for its second season as a member of the Southern Conference. “We are excited about year two in the league. We are excited about the opportunity to compete and we feel like we have a Southern Conference caliber team this year.”

Samford will then play its next nine games at home. The Bulldogs will play host to Jacksonville State on Mar. 16, and they will play a four-game series with Minnesota Mar. 18-21.

Samford will play host to Auburn University on Mar. 23. The game between the Bulldogs and the Tigers is scheduled for a 6 p.m. start from Joe Lee Griffin Field.

Samford will host its first home conference series of the season Mar. 26-28, when the Bulldogs take on the Furman Paladins. The following weekend, Apr. 1-3, Samford will play at SoCon foe Davidson.

The Bulldogs will return home on Apr. 6, when Samford hosts in-state rival Troy at 6 p.m. at Joe Lee Griffin Field.

Samford will then play host to the UNC Greensboro Spartans in another SoCon series, Apr. 9-11. After playing a midweek game at Alabama, Apr. 13, Samford will travel to Georgia Southern for a conference series Apr. 16-18.

Next up, Samford will play two midweek games against cross-town rival UAB. The teams will play Apr. 20 at UAB’s Young Memorial Field, and Apr. 21 at Samford’s Joe Lee Griffin Field.

The weekend of Apr. 23-25, the Bulldogs will play host to Appalachian State in a league series. After playing at Auburn on Apr. 27, the Bulldogs will play host to The Citadel in a SoCon series Apr. 30-May 2.

The Bulldogs will play at conference foe Wofford, May 7-9, and then Samford will play its final home games in a SoCon series against Western Carolina, May 14-16.

Samford will wrap up its regular season with a SoCon series at Elon. The Bulldogs and Phoenix will meet May 19-21 in Elon, N.C.

The 2010 SoCon Baseball Tournament is scheduled for May 26-30 in Charleston, S.C.

(Release)

CHARLESTON, Ill. – Eighteen home games and a return to Florida for the annual spring break trip highlights Eastern Illinois baseball’s 2010 schedule, unveiled by head coach Jim Schmitz.

EIU Head Coach Jim Schmitz

three-game series at USF this year, EIU is expected to take on Army, Akron, Indiana and Ohio State in neutral-site games in Bradenton, Fla.

Complete 2010 Eastern Illinois Schedule

“It is another demanding schedule, playing 22 of our first 23 games on the road,” Schmitz said. “The NCAA moved the start of the season up one week, which allowed us to play another series on the road. We play seven teams that were ranked in the Top 100 of the RPI ranking in 2009. Our spring break is going to be our biggest test, as we play a three-game set with USF and then finish the trip with Indiana and Ohio State. The last few years we have made the schedule tougher in order to improve our RPI. It is the only way we can possibly get an at-large bid (to the NCAA Tournament).

The weekend of May 14-16, EIU is scheduled to host Indiana State and SIU Edwardsville. The Panthers will play ISU on May 14 and SIUE on May 15 and 16. The Sycamores and Cougars will also square off at Coaches Stadium at noon on Saturday, May 15.

Eastern is slated to open the season in Hammond, La., against Southeastern Louisiana for the third year in a row. The Panthers won two-of-three last year after getting swept in 2008.

Eastern last visited Belmont during the 2007 spring break trip and last played at UAB in 2003, participating in a four-team tournament.

For the third year in a row, EIU is scheduled to take on Missouri at T.R. Hughes Ballpark in O’Fallon, Mo. The midweek game at the home of the Frontier League’s River City Rascals is expected to be played with wood bats.

(Release)

Blue Raiders Have 27 Home Games In 2010

MTSU Head Coach Steve Peterson

“With the exception of Ohio University, our schedule looks much like it has in recent years,” noted Peterson. “It will feature a lot of familiar foes, and have a lot of road games close by that our fans can follow us to.”

Complete 2010 MTSU Schedule

Tennessee and Vanderbilt are home-and-home foes once again, as are Austin Peay, Belmont, David Lipscomb and Tennessee Tech.

Middle Tennessee will play Southern Illinois in multi-game series’ home and away, and will also have a three-game road trip to Jacksonville State in early March.

“We have a tough non-conference slate, as we always try to do, to prepare us for conference play,” said Peterson. “Tennessee was very good at the end of the season last year, and Vandy is being touted as perhaps having the best pitching staff in the country. Tennessee Tech made the NCAA tournament last year, and Southern Illinois and Jacksonville State are always a tough series for us.”

The 56-game schedule will include 18 games against Sun Belt Conference foes, beginning with a three-game home stand against Louisiana-Monroe March 12-13-14. It will close the regular season with what has become the traditional season-ending series with Western Kentucky.

Sunday, April 25th, is tentatively set as Little League Day at Reese Smith Field. Middle Tennessee will host SBC foe Arkansas-Little Rock on that day.

(Release)

RICHMOND, Ky. – A new-look 2010 baseball schedule was released on Monday by second-year Eastern Kentucky University head coach Jason Stein. The schedule is highlighted by a series with Purdue at Turkey Hughes Field, a spring break trip through the state of North Carolina, a neutral-site showdown with West Virginia and trips to Tennessee and Louisville.

EKU Head Coach Jason Stein

Instead of hosting an early-season tournament at Turkey Hughes Field, as the Colonels have done the past several seasons, EKU will open the 2010 season with a three game series at Western Carolina from February 26-28. The Colonels fell to the Catamounts last year in Cullowhee, 24-23, in a mid-week, five-hour slugfest.

Complete 2010 Eastern Kentucky Schedule

The Colonels’ home opener will come on March 2 when they host Ohio as the second half of a home-and-home series dating back to last year.

Following a trip to Knoxville on March 3 to take on Tennessee, EKU will spend spring break (March 5-14) in North Carolina facing the likes of Presbyterian, UNC Greensboro, North Carolina A&T and High Point.

Two days after returning home, the Colonels will host the Boilermakers for a two-game series at Turkey Hughes Field from March 16-17.

The series with Purdue is the first third of a homestand that extends to March 23 and features a three game series with Bowling Green and single game with Miami (Ohio).

EKU begins its OVC schedule against the team it ended with in 2009: Eastern Illinois. The Panthers visit Turkey Hughes Field for a three game stand beginning on March 27.

The Colonels will host three more conference series in 2010 against Austin Peay (April 10-11), Tennessee Tech (May 1-2) and Jacksonville State (the final conference series of the year, May 15-16).

Outside of the OVC, EKU will take on West Virginia in Charleston, W.V. on April 13 and will travel to Louisville to face the Cardinals on May 18.

Other non-conference games include a home-and-home with Marshall (home on March 31, away on April 14), a two game series at East Tennessee State (April 6-7), visits from Xavier (May 12) and the University of the Cumberlands (April 20), trips to Western Kentucky (April 28) and Dayton (May 11) and a three game series with future OVC school SIU Edwardsville to end the regular season (May 21-23).

Another point of interest concerning the schedule is that the 2010 OVC Baseball Championship will be held at Pringles Park in Jackson, Tenn., not at Brooks Stadium in Paducah, Ky. where the tournament had been played the last nine seasons.

The Colonels return three All-OVC players, as well as three OVC All-Newcomers, for the 2010 campaign.

EKU’s Fall World Series will be held at Turkey Hughes Field this Friday and Saturday, November 13-14.

UA Will Play 32 Games Against SEC Yeams And 22 Games Vs. 2009 NCAA Teams

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - The University of Alabama announced its 2010 college baseball schedule on Monday, which includes 32 games against Southeastern Conference teams and 22 games with teams that played in last year’s NCAA Tournament.

The list of 2009 NCAA Regional qualifiers includes Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, LSU, Minnesota, Mississippi, South Carolina and Vanderbilt.  Of those eight teams, four played in NCAA Super Regionals and two advanced to the College World Series.

Alabama’s non-conference series includes games against South Alabama, Illinois-Chicago, College of Charleston, Stony Brook and Minnesota.

First Year Alabama Skipper Mitch Gaspard

“I think the schedule sets up pretty well and that will be similar to the schedules we would like to play in the future,” first-year Alabama head coach Mitch Gaspard said  “We would like to play one non-conference series with an NCAA Regional-type team each year.  I would like for that to be regionalized, where it is a team that would draw some interest from our fans and when we go there it would draw some interest. So I think in the future we want to have one kind of marquee weekend before we hit conference play that puts us in an atmosphere, whether it be at home or on the road, that would be similar to an SEC weekend.”

In addition to its 10-week SEC regular-season schedule, Alabama will play two non-conference games with Georgia and Auburn in 2010. The Crimson Tide and Bulldogs, who do not play a league game in the regular season for the first time since 1994, will meet on Wednesday, March 3 at Regions Park in Hoover.  Alabama and Auburn will meet in the second annual Capital City Classic on Tuesday, March 9 at Riverwalk Stadium in Montgomery.

“I think the schedule is really good this year,” Gaspard added. “Minnesota has been really good.  They’ve been in a regional almost every year.  They are one of the better Big 10 teams out there.  It gives you some different flavor bringing some different folks in and the name has a lot to do with it so there is some excitement among our players and fans when you bring in a Big 10 school or someone from out of our region that traditionally plays good baseball. It’s a different look and a different style.

“That’s something that we want to continue to do, along with playing the teams in the state. It’s always important to play those people here and on the road.  When you put a schedule together, you want to put it together where it will continue to help you improve throughout the season.”

The Crimson Tide will also face Michigan State in a midweek game in Tuscaloosa and in-state foes Jacksonville State, Samford and UAB.

“I think early on in the season some of those marquee Tuesday and Wednesday games are important.  It gives you an opportunity to play some folks you would not otherwise play that you may match up with in a regional,” Gaspard said.

“I want to look at teams that play different styles, so you become comfortable with two or three different styles of play in your opponents, so when you run into a team that plays the short game, at least you’ve prepared for that for a weekend.  You may run into a base-to-base, power or power-pitching team, whatever it may be, and try to match up the best you can.  Normally the style and philosophy of the head coach does not change a lot, so you try to play some folks that will make you change a little bit as far as the style of play, where you can make some adjustments as the season goes along.”

Alabama will play SEC home series’ with Vanderbilt, Auburn, Mississippi State, Florida and Mississippi in 2010, while traveling to Arkansas, Kentucky, LSU, South Carolina and Tennessee.