South Carolina baseball: Gamecocks host top ranked Arkansas
By Jacob Elsey
South Carolina baseball hosts No. 1 Arkansas.
The South Carolina baseball team will welcome the top ranked Arkansas Razorbacks to town tonight as they look for a fifth straight series win. Fresh off of a weekend win in Baton Rouge, the Gamecocks will hope to knock off the SEC’s top team in an attempt to move up the conference standings.
Currently, Mark Kingston’s bunch sits at 24-10 on the year, with a 10-5 mark in league play as we reach the halfway point of the conference slate. Arkansas sits a game ahead of the Gamecocks at 11-4, and have been considered a top five team since season’s start. A series victory could push South Carolina into a first-place tie with the Razorbacks while also giving them the head-to-head tiebreaker.
The Gamecocks have won four straight series, taking down Florida, Georgia, Missouri, and LSU in consecutive weekends. This will be the first time in five seasons that the program will host America’s top ranked team, with the last occasion coming in the 2016 season versus then-No. 1 Florida. The two teams traded one-run wins before having the rubber match cancelled due to rain.
South Carolina will be happy to play at Founders Park, a venue they’ve gone 16-2 in so far this season. The Gamecocks have dropped just one conference matchup in Columbia to this point, a Friday night loss to Missouri a few weeks back. They swept Florida in their SEC home opener.
Arkansas, on the other hand, is 10-2 away from home this year, with a 7-2 mark in true road contests. The Razorbacks have yet to drop a league series, having taken down Alabama, Auburn, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, and Texas A&M. They’ve done so with great hitting from a lineup that leads the SEC in on-base percentage, runs scores, home runs, runs batted in, and walks. That lineup will do its best to figure out Gamecock pitching, which ranks among the conference’s top five staffs in ERA, strikeouts, and opposing batting average.
It should be a fun weekend that features a matchup of strength on strength. Let’s take a look at some players to keep an eye on over the next three days.