South Carolina baseball to play open scrimmages this weekend

It's January, so in the South, that means one thing: it's almost baseball season. While South Carolina baseball fans are a little busier than usual with the success of the men's basketball team in Columbia, the Gamecock baseball squad has a lot of excitement around it heading into the 2024 season.

With just 24 days remaining before first pitch, Carolina fans are full of hope that their favorite team can take another step forward. USC returns one of the best lineups in the sport this spring, and some nice transfer portal pickups (including a few highly-regarded pitchers) could be the missing pieces that push the Gamecocks past their two-and-barbecue trip to the Super Regionals last year.

The YardCocks are ranked in several national preseason polls. Perfect Game has the Gamecocks ranked 13th, D1Baseball slots Carolina in at the 25-spot, and College Baseball Central placed USC at 11th in their preseason poll.

Though South Carolina baseball will not take the field for an official game until a three-game series begins on February 16th against Miami (OH), they will play in an unofficial capacity a little sooner than that, and fans will have a chance to check out Mark Kingston's club, as well.

Official spring practice begins on Friday, January 26th, and, according to an announcement from the South Carolina baseball program on Gamecocksonline.com, the Gamecocks will start the practice season with a bang with three scrimmages on the weekend. All three scrimmages will be played at Founders Park, open to the public, and free of charge. The three-game schedule can be seen below:

Friday, January 26th @ 3:00 PM
Saturday, January 27th @ 2:00 PM
Sunday, January 28th @ 1:00 PM

As usual, the SEC is loaded, and the Gamecocks will play a daunting schedule in 2024. This weekend's action will be the first chance for the South Carolina baseball faithful to see just how good the 'Cocks can be heading into another tough year in the Southeastern Conference.