South Carolina Baseball: Ranking the top-15 pitchers in Gamecock history
By Kevin Miller
South Carolina Baseball’s No. 11 Greatest Pitcher of All-Time:
Mike Cook
Mike Cook (1983-1985) was really good for South Carolina baseball as a freshman and sophomore but was a bit of an escape artist who knew how to escape significant damage after allowing base runners.
As a junior in 1985, however, Cook didn’t have to escape damage as he turned in an otherworldly 1.91 ERA and 1.13 WHIP en route to a 16-2 record with 8 complete games. Two of his top performances that year came against rival Clemson as Cook dominated the orange and white clad Tigers for 16 2/3 innings and 24 strikeouts over two starts.
The All-American’s college career ended with three tremendous postseason starts for head coach June Raines. Cook dominated the La Salle Explorers for two of the four wins needed to advance from the Regional round of the NCAA Tournament, and he even added a pinch hit home run against St. John’s to help seal that victory, as well.
With no Super Regionals back then, the Gamecocks advanced to the College World Series where against Arkansas Cook hurled 8 innings of 3-hit, shutout ball before his bullpen (and, really, his offense) lost the game 1-0 in the 14th inning. After that strong finish, Cook was a1st rounder in the 1985 MLB Draft and pitched 5 years in the Bigs.