Mark Kingston calls on South Carolina to execute vs. James Madison in Game 1 of Raleigh Regional

South Carolina struggled defensively in the SEC Tournament in Hoover. Those struggles have continued thus far in the Raleigh Regional against James Madison.

The Gamecocks committed two errors and hit into a couple of double plays early on as they trailed James Madison 4-1 in the fifth inning.

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South Carolina coach Mark Kingston joined ESPN+ during the broadcast and called for his team to do a better job of executing down the stretch.

“Yea, I think that’s a great word for us – settled. I think we got settled,” Kingston said of the early defensive struggles. “We were very excited to play at the beginning of the game. We’ve settled in and now we just need to execute offensively and defensively.”

James Madison stole three bases against the Gamecocks early on and also took advantage of a bunt single.

While the Dukes were playing small ball, South Carolina struggled to take advantage of opportunities at the plate. The Gamecocks stranded four runners through four innings.

“You know, we’re playing hard as always and just got to get the ball in the air a little bit,” Kingston said. “A couple of double plays offensively hurt us, so we let them sink the ball on us and hit into those double plays. Other than that I think we’re taking good at bats and Eli is doing a really nice job for us.”

South Carolina will be without senior 3B Gavin Casas in postseason

South Carolina Gamecocks head coach Mark Kingston shared that the injury to senior third baseman Gavin Casas is going to cost him the postseason.

Casas is going to need surgery on his hand to repair his broken hamate bone. It’s an injury that he suffered during the team’s SEC Tournament win over Kentucky. Now, the Gamecocks are going to need to find a way to replace his production as he’s unavailable for the NCAA Tournament.

Losing Gavin Casas is going to be difficult for South Carolina to manage. In 56 games this season, he’s batting .260 with a .385 OBP and a .491 slugging percentage. He has 10 home runs, 35 RBIs, and 31 runs scored. Those are all good numbers, but they’re actually down from his 2023 season and Kingston and the Gamecocks know he would have been a big boost in the lineup throughout the NCAA Tournament.