Georgia's Scott Stricklin explains plan to start Jaden Woods vs. South Carolina, what Charlie Condon means to Bulldogs

Georgia is in the middle of a battle with South Carolina in the SEC Tournament to keep their season alive. Still, while they face an early deficit against the Gamecocks, head coach Scott Stricklin had a lot of positive things to say about his players down in Hoover.

First, when speaking with the SEC Network’s broadcast, Stricklin commented on the start by Jaden Woods. He was pleased with the junior’s performance early but noted how the staff was willing to limit him from seeing too much action to start.

“I was encouraged by the velocity. A little bit of a tick. It’s better than what we’ve seen in the pen,” said Stricklin. “It was going to be 30 pitches. If it has been a lefty, we probably would have left him in there. But we thought that was the right move. Unfortunately, it didn’t work. But it was going to be to 30 pitches.”

From there, Stricklin praised the start of the career of Charlie Condon. With 81 hits and 25 home runs over his first real season with the Bulldogs, he said that Condon very obviously has quite the future for himself both in college as well as moving forward.

“Unbelieveable. He’s a really talented kid, a hard worker, very humble. Everything that you want,” Stricklin said. “(There’s) a bright, bright future for that kid.”

Stricklin will need more from both, though, as well as the rest of his lineup down in Hoover Met. Stadium. That’ll be the only way for the ‘Dawgs to dig themselves out of the early three-run hole that they’re facing in the bottom of the fourth inning.

Mark Kingston reveals his message to Gamecocks ahead of SEC baseball tournament

South Carolina baseball got off to a dominant start this season, only losing once in the first month of the year. Through most of the regular season, the Gamecocks soared to multi-run victories, swept series and occupied a top five position in the various top-25 polls. This was a surefire regional host team as of May 1st.

However, April flowers certainly led to May showers for South Carolina. And it’s not just rained, but poured on the Gamecocks’ once-great season. They lost nine of their final 11 games and have work to do in Hoover at the SEC Tournament if they want to rebuild their resume at least a little bit before selection day.

But head coach Mark Kingston isn’t taking the recent events into consideration today in the SEC tourney opener against Georgia. He just wants his guys focused on taking advantage of the opportunity to play in such a storied event.

“Just appreciate what this tournament is. It’s…half the big leagues have played here at some point it feels like. It’s a privilege to play here, you’ve dreamed about being in this tournament all the time. So who cares if it’s 9:30 in the morning, it’s wet. Just enjoy this and make the most of it,” said Kingston

“Well look, we play to win every game we have a chance to play. So this is the next on the schedule, we want to win today and we want to win if we get the chance to play the next day. So, it’s all important. Everything we do is important.”