South Carolina Baseball: Important schedule and TV update
By Kevin Miller
South Carolina baseball has not gotten off to the start they had hoped for in their series against the Auburn Tigers this weekend. The Gamecocks lost the first two games of the three-game set, and game three is in jeopardy due to weather. Carolina’s pitching staff has given up an uncustomary amount of runs this weekend, and that will need to change if they are to salvage a victory in the Sunday finale.
Speaking of the Sunday finale…weather has complicated both the schedule and the tv broadcast for the game. According to an official announcement from Gamecocksonline.com, the series’ third game is now set to be played at 3:00 on ESPN2 at Founders Park. The game can also be found on the ESPN App.
The series is already a loss (just South Carolina’s second series loss of the entire 2023 season), but avoiding a sweep will be critical this weekend. The Gamecocks are currently in line to be a top-8 national seed that would host a regional and super regional, but a sweep at the hands of postseason bubble team Auburn could hurt those chances.
Matthew Becker is the expected starter on the mound for the Gamecocks, and he will look to limit the Auburn offense, something the team has not done so far this weekend as South Carolina pitching has allowed an alarming 17 runs in the series’ first two games. Carolina’s offense has scored just eight runs combined in those games, as well, a sign that the Gamecock bats will need to step it up a bit on Sunday in order to avoid the sweep at home.