While Amp Phillips was pitching on Saturdays, he was the clear ace of South Carolina’s rotation, even if he didn’t own the official title. The Gamecocks could always count on him to deliver a quality outing and give them a chance to win the series or even it up heading into the finale.
But after tossing eight shutout innings at Missouri on April 10, interim head coach Monte Lee decided it was time for Phillips to take on the true ace role, moving him up a day to start on Fridays. The move made a lot of sense at the time, but since then, it’s become fair to question whether it was the right one.
After his shortest start of the year last Friday against Kentucky, Phillips had another tough outing in Saturday’s 6–1 loss to LSU in the first game of a doubleheader…