South Carolina Baseball: Week 6 preview; how to watch vs. Charlotte, Mizzou
By Kevin Miller
After a weekend of angry phone calls from PETA for mercilessly beating on Bulldogs, the South Carolina baseball team has risen even higher in the polls this week. D1Baseball now has the Gamecocks at #11 in their top-25 poll. For the team with the best record in all of college baseball at 20-1, this is still too low, but it is trending in the right direction.
No other team in division-I college baseball has under two losses, and the Gamecocks’ offense is the biggest reason why. The YardCocks lead all of college baseball in home runs and runs scored. Four Gamecocks (Gavin Casas, Will McGillis, Cole Messina, and Ethan Petry) rank in the top-12 nationally in home runs and three (Messina, Casas, and Braylen Wimmer) rank in the top-15 in runs. Simply put, Head Coach Mark Kingston and Associate Head Coach Monte Lee (who helps oversee the offense) have an offensive juggernaut playing for them right now.
South Carolina hopes to continue their dominant ways this week. On Tuesday at 6:05, the Gamecocks will take on the Charlotte 49ers on the road at Truist Field, home of the Chicago White Sox AAA-affiliate Charlotte Knights. The game will be broadcast only on ESPN+ and the ESPN App. With James Hicks pitching twice over the weekend, he will likely not get the start on Tuesday. Eli Jerzembeck, Eli Jones, and Matthew Becker have started midweek games this season. Jerzembeck and Becker have been used in big spots in relief during weekend series, as well.
The big series comes this weekend as the Gamecocks will return to Founders Park after four straight road contests. The Missouri Tigers are coming to town, fresh off a convincing sweep of top-10 Tennessee in the other Columbia. Chandler Murphy has been a very solid Friday starter this season, and the Mizzou bullpen has a couple of top-notch arms at the back end in Rorik Maltrud, Zach Franklin, Tony Neubeck, and Austin Troesser.
Infielders Hank Zeisler and Luke Mann have been the only real power threats for a Tigers’ offense that doesn’t get a lot of extra-base hits. They do, though, get on base at a high clip. The 22nd-ranked Tigers are tough outs at the dish as seven different regulars have on-base percentages higher than .400.
Missouri excels in limiting the damage opponents can do. Mizzou pitching is holding opposing offenses below a .200 batting average, while their defense has just 13 errors on the season. The Tigers don’t generally make many mistakes, and their 16-3 record on the season is proof of that.
The Gamecocks will likely keep their existing weekend rotation intact against Missouri with Will Sanders on the bump for the Friday contest, Noah Hall toeing the rubber in game 2, and Jack Mahoney pitching the finale on Sunday. Game 1 will be on the SECNetwork and ESPN App at 7:00, game 2 will be at 4:00 on the SECNetwork+ and ESPN App, and the finale will be played at noon on the SECNetwork and ESPN App.