South Carolina Baseball: Columbia regional preview
Whether deserved or not, the South Carolina baseball team will be hosting a regional this postseason at Founders Park.
South Carolina will still have to bring their A-game to beat out the other three teams: 2-seed Campbell, 3-seed North Carolina State, and 4-seed Central Connecticut State. Campbell, especially, may be the team to look out for as they’re coming off a Big South championship and have been ranked in the top 25 for most of the year.
But perhaps the vote of confidence from the selection committee and the addition of home-field advantage can give the Gamecocks the shot of adrenaline the team has been lacking for the last month of the season. After all, this is still the same team that swept Florida and drew even with LSU earlier in the year.
Injury-wise, the pitchers are mostly healthy save for Noah Hall, and the batters are in a similar situation, likely without second baseman Will McGillis. When at full strength, this South Carolina baseball team is dangerous.
One of the most dangerous players, at least when he’s playing his best, will be coming out of the bullpen this weekend. Will Sanders will return, but he likely will not be starting a game on the mound.
Schedule-wise, the first game the Gamecocks will be playing is on Friday at 7 p.m. on ESPN+ against Central Connecticut State. Campbell and North Carolina State kick off the regional with a 1 p.m. pitch time at Founders Park on Friday.
The tournament is set up in a double-elimination bracket. That means if the Gamecocks win, they’ll play the winner of Campbell and North Carolina State. If the Gamecocks can’t manage to beat the Blue Devils of Central Connecticut, they’ll have to play the loser of the Campbell-North Carolina State matchup in order to stay alive.
Once a team loses twice, they’re out. The best way to not sweat the weekend is to simply win the first two games of the regional.
If the Gamecocks were to win the regional, as the 15th national seed, they’d play the winner of the Gainesville regional. While any of the four teams in that regional could come out on top, the Florida Gators are heavy favorites to win it.
This wouldn’t be too bad for the Gamecocks, as they swept Florida earlier this year. However, if the Gators and Gamecocks were to both win their regionals, they’d play the best-of-three super regional in Gainesville, not Columbia.
In the unlikely scenario of Florida losing their regional while South Carolina wins theirs, the Gamecocks would host the Super Regional against either UConn, Texas Tech, or Florida A&M.
It’s important not to glimpse over the regional, however. It will be a tough regional to get out of, given the talent of both Campbell and North Carolina State. The Camels of Buies Creek, North Carolina, rank 11th in the country in batting average and are 1 of just 8 teams with more home runs than the Gamecocks this year. NC State, on the other hand, is led by a solid pitching staff.
South Carolina baseball should win their first-round matchup against Central Connecticut State, but they’ll need their A-game against either Campbell or NC State. My prediction? The Gamecocks win the regional, but not before a loss to either the Camels or the Wolfpack.