South Carolina baseball: SEC Tournament play decides regional host chances

South Carolina baseball begins the SEC Tournament on Tuesday.

The South Carolina baseball regular season is officially over, with the Gamecocks dropping its final SEC series to fourth-ranked Tennessee. The were 90 feet away from forcing extra innings in Saturday’s rubber match with the Volunteers, but they couldn’t get that tying run across the plate. With the defeat, the Gamecocks fell to 33-20 on the year and are likely staring at a No. 2 seed in postseason play, meaning they’d hit the road for regional action. But the team’s slim chances at hosting aren’t quite done yet.

South Carolina will begin the SEC Tournament this week, with an opening round matchup set against Alabama. Should the Gamecocks get a win, a rematch versus Tennessee would be in store for round two.

Mark Kingston and Co. could vault back into regional host contention with a couple of wins in the double elimination event, as the NCAA is likely to announce the postseason tournament field at the end of the month. The Gamecocks already have a strong resume, ranking 14th in the nation in RPI after facing one of the country’s most difficult slates. South Carolina played three-game series with each of the top four teams in the latest D1 Baseball poll. They also matched up with Florida, Ole Miss, and Mississippi State, each of whom sit in the top 15.

All in all, the Gamecocks played 28 games versus what the RPI considers “quad 1” foes. Those opponents all rank within the nation’s top 50 programs in terms of quality, strength of schedule, and on-field results. The team went 11-17 in those contests, picking up series wins over Florida, Georgia, and LSU. To put that in perspective, South Carolina faced just 25 opponents from quads two, three, and four combined, posting an impressive 22-3 record. That means more than half the schedule came against teams considered to be among the nation’s best.

The upcoming SEC Tournament will provide a few more opportunities, starting with Alabama (RPI No. 36). What will it take to get back into the regional host conversation?

A couple of wins against top 50 opponents could do the trick. As mentioned earlier, the Gamecocks already have a solid resume in the eyes of the NCAA. That’s one of the reasons for their being selected as one of the 20 potential host sites back in early May.

It’s likely that anything less than two wins will have South Carolina travelling for the regional round, but if the team can eek out two or three W’s, they’ll have to feel really good about their chances to see postseason baseball at Founders Park in June.

The Gamecocks, historically, haven’t played well in the SEC Tournament, posting an overall winning percentage of just 37%, and taking home the title once in 27 appearances. They’ll need to buck that trend to keep host chances alive. The bats seem to finally be coming alive after a mid season lull. Toss in an elite pitching staff, and South Carolina could get hot at the right time.

The path to postseason success begins tomorrow at 2 PM, with the game being aired on SEC Network.