South Carolina’s history against the Columbia Regional field
By Rixon Lane
The Columbia Regional begins this Friday and, for the first time in several years, there are no familiar faces coming to Carolina Stadium.
Rather than facing former assistant coaches (Jim Toman, now the head coach at Liberty), in-state schools looking to score an upset (Citadel, Coastal Carolina) or fierce rivals (Clemson), the Gamecocks are hosting three teams that they haven’t seen in quite a while. In fact, the last time South Carolina played any of the teams in this year’s Columbia Regional was 2009. Here is a brief history of South Carolina’s contests against the teams they may see this weekend:
Maryland Terrapins: (No. 2 seed)
The Gamecocks are 16-25 overall against the Terps, but USC hasn’t faced Maryland since 1980. The Gamecocks knocked off Maryland 3-1 during the 1980 season, which was the last time the Terrapins came to Columbia. Maryland swept the Gamecocks in a two-game in series in Columbia in 1971, which was the last time the Terps made the NCAA tournament.
Old Dominion Monarchs (No. 3 seed)
South Carolina shares a small history with the Monarchs, as current Gamecock pitching coach Jerry Meyers was Old Dominion’s head coach from 2005-2010. South Carolina is 19-4 against Old Dominion and USC’s last meeting with the Monarchs came in 2009, when the Gamecocks beat ODU 13-3. In fact, Old Dominion hasn’t beaten South Carolina since 1999 and the Gamecocks have averaged 13 runs per game in their last three meetings.
Campbell Camels (No. 4 seed)
USC’s first opponent, the Camels haven’t played the Gamecocks since 1993. South Carolina leads the overall series 9-2 and has won the last eight meetings. Campbell’s last win over the Gamecocks came in 1979. Historically, the Camels have been an early-season opponent for the Gamecocks. Friday’s game will mark the latest meeting between the schools since 1989, when the two teams played on April 17th in Columbia.