South Carolina Baseball: Week 13 preview; How to watch vs. North Florida, Arkansas
By Kevin Miller
The South Carolina baseball team hasn’t fallen off the rails, but the Gamecock train is teetering a bit as it keeps chugging on down the tracks. An outrageously good start to the season has kept the Carolina resume in position as a solid regional host, and the team still has a chance at a top-8 seed with a good finish. Losing 3 in a row, 5 of 6, and 8 of 13 games in the SEC is less than ideal, but with two more high-profile matchups against Arkansas and Tennessee, the Gamecocks still have plenty of room to recover and reach their regular season goals.
Week 13 sees the South Carolina baseball program return home for a one-game mid-week contest against North Florida before hitting the road again to face the Arkansas Razorbacks in Fayetteville. The Gamecocks are still ranked #6 in the latest D1Baseball poll as several other top teams lost games this past weekend. North Florida is unranked, and Arkansas is playing well and has moved up to #3 in the poll.
According to an update from head coach Mark Kingston during an interview on 107.5 The Game, the Gamecocks could be receiving some reinforcements soon. Talmadge LeCroy and Will McGillis could be in the lineup as early as the mid-week game against North Florida, and shortstop Braylen Wimmer could be back in reserve duty over the weekend and could be fully back next mid-week against Charlotte. Reliever Chris Veach who missed a short amount of time with a sore arm is feeling better.
The North Florida Ospreys are not a great baseball team, but several offensive weapons could create problems for the struggling Gamecock pitchers. The best of the group is freshman Alex Lodise, who has knocked 30 extra-base hits, including 16 home runs. The bottom of the Osprey order is not very good, and their pitching is downright bad. If Carolina can avoid damage from Lodise and the top of the lineup, the Gamecock offense should carry the team to a lopsided victory that will (hopefully) re-instill some confidence into the struggling club. James Hicks is set to start.
Arkansas is one of the best teams in the country and will present a massive challenge, especially at one of the top home environments in the SEC. Arkansas has only lost one home SEC game this season, and the Hogs have won six straight in conference play.
The Arkansas offense doesn’t hit for a ton of power, but their team on-base percentage is over .400, and they boast three different hitters with over 30 extra-base hits on the season. The offense is playing well of late, as the Razorbacks have not been held under 4 runs in three weeks of play and have scored double-digit runs multiple times in that span.
Pitching in Fayetteville has been good at times, but Hagen Smith has been excellent since emerging as Arkansas’ best starter. Smith has pitched his way to a 2.56 ERA and 79 strikeouts in 53 innings. Dylan Carter and Gage Woods make up a formidable back end to the Razorback bullpen, as well. South Carolina will need to be better with their situational hitting late in games as Carter and Woods will make scoring opportunities scarce.
The Gamecocks will have to be better on the mound this weekend to reverse their recent fortunes. Kentucky’s offense was worse than Arkansas’, and the Wildcats crushed the Gamecock offerings all weekend long in Lexington. Walks, hit by pitches, and errors have extended so many innings over the past several series, compounding the issue. That must change in the Gamecocks’ penultimate SEC series of the season if the Carolina baseball program still hopes to receive a top-16 (or even top-8) seed in the postseason.
South Carolina’s offense has been good enough to win despite the recent struggles. However, the team has also left a large number of runners on base as they have not performed as well as needed in run-scoring situations. With the pitching hurt and struggling, the Gamecocks must take advantage of the majority of their scoring opportunities against Arkansas to have a realistic chance to win the series.
The North Florida mid-week contest will be played on Tuesday at 4:00 on the SECNetwork+. All three games of the Arkansas series will also be played on the SECNetwork+ with game 1 at 7:30 on Friday, Saturday’s game 2 at 7:00, and the Sunday finale at 3:00.