South Carolina baseball coach Mark Kingston and his team are hoping to continue "getting right" after last weekend's 2-game series loss to the rival Clemson Tigers. After heading into the series with just one loss, USC dropped both games (Friday night's contest at Founders Park was rained out; no make-up details have been announced) as the offense underperformed, especially with runners on base.
During the mid-week, the Gamecocks picked up two out-of-conference victories over The Citadel and Davidson to get back into the win column. The bats still weren't good enough, however, as they only tallied 2 extra-base hits and 5 total hits with runners on base in the two games.
A weekend tilt with the Longwood Lancers should serve as an opportunity for Coach Kingston's club to keep working through their offensive deficiencies. Longwood has been less-than-stellar on the mound this season, potentially offering plenty of opportunities for Carolina to gain some confidence swinging the sticks. The Lancers are expected to start both righties and lefties in the series, providing chances for both sides of some developing platoons to play.
Now, the first game of the Longwood series is being moved up because of the potential of bad weather in the area. According to an update from the University of South Carolina, first pitch has been moved from 7:00 to 6:00 PM EST for Friday night's contest against the Lancers.
Rain is set to make its way to Columbia late Friday night, so the earlier start time could help the Gamecocks avoid the bad weather and another rain-shortened matchup. Saturday's game could be affected by the rain, as well.
South Carolina baseball still will have all three of its games against Longwood (Friday @ 6:00, Saturday @ 4:00, and Sunday @ 1:30) streamed on the SEC Network+ and ESPN app.