Jack's Mailbag Ep. 34: Answering your South Carolina-Clemson baseball questions

It’s finally here. The rivalry is back. South Carolina and No. 13 Clemson will meet for a huge three-game series this weekend, starting on Friday night at Doug Kingsmore Stadium. The series shifts over to Greenville’s Fluor Field on Saturday and concludes at Ray Tanner Field at Founders Park on Sunday.

Every week, I’ll be answering questions from you, the fans in my weekly baseball Q&A series, Jack’s Mailbag. This week, we’ll mainly be discussing all things that have to do with the South Carolina-Clemson rivalry and what this weekend could look like for the Gamecocks.

If you would like to have a question featured in the next episode, I’ll create a post on The Insiders Forum at the start of every week, and you can ask your question there. Without further ado, let’s get into all the questions for this week.

yo-mans: Do you think Mainieri will stick with the same lineup all 3 games?

There’s usually at least one change in his lineup almost every game. So, I think it just depends on the situation and how things are going. But I’d say no. I think the same lineup won’t appear in all three games.

AustinG_27: At this point Jace Woita has to be your everyday DH right? Unless you want a specific matchup

Easily. It shouldn’t even be a serious question. Woita has been tearing the cover off the baseball with three homers to his name this season. It’s going to be interesting to see how Mainieri utilizes him when South Carolina faces left-handed starting pitching on Saturday and Sunday. But I think that, just on paper, Woita is your everyday DH.

West Ashley Gamecock: How is Eskew? Does Becker start Friday night?

Mainieri initially said Eskew would start on Sunday when he spoke on Wednesday. Mainieri wanted to give Eskew a few extra days to get ready for his next start. He threw a bullpen on Wednesday and everything supposedly went well. The weekend rotation looked like this when we spoke to Mainieri: Becker on Friday, Jake McCoy on Saturday, and Eskew on Sunday. If you want to read more about what Mainieri said on the rotation plans and how he came to his decision, you can click here. Then, on Thursday, South Carolina officially revealed the rotation with a TBA slot for Sunday. So, we’ll see what ends up happening. Just a little strange to see that happen.

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F3 Lamont: What will be our ranking after we sweep them?

It depends on what every other team does over the weekend. But a sweep over a top-15 team would be massive. That should catapult South Carolina into the top 25. I would say somewhere between 20 to 25 seems realistic if that were to happen. Keep in mind that the Gamecocks are currently unranked going into this weekend.

dmccary16: Haven’t had a chance to watch much of Clemson (and not sure if you’ve had a chance to either), but from an outsider’s perspective, it looks like their pitching has struggled some. Have they been prone to giving up free passes?

Clemson’s pitching staff got rocked when it lost 15-5 to Ole Miss in Arlington a few weeks ago. So that’s only going to make the numbers look worse. It’s still early in the season, but it’s strange to see a guy like Aidan Knaak, Clemson’s Friday starter, with a 6.00 ERA. I’m sure that will go down since he’s a very good pitcher. Ethan Darden, the Tigers’ Saturday starter, has been awesome, though, with a 1.80 ERA through two starts. They’ve got some pieces in their bullpen who should pitch big innings this weekend. But they’ve given up some walks so far. 80 strikeouts to 29 walks through eight games. Opponents are hitting .230 against their pitching.

Gamecock14: Who could be the dark horse that delivers a key hit or makes a key pitch to help Carolina take 2 out of 3?

Just a gut feeling here, but I think it’s about time Talmadge LeCroy comes through and does some good at the plate. He’s had the last two games off and will be back behind the plate on Friday. He’s struggled mightily with only one hit through his first 18 at-bats. Don’t forget: LeCroy won the Tom Price Award, handed out to the Most Valuable Player of the Clemson series, back in 2023. He’s hit well against this team before. I think he can do it again this weekend.

If someone’s going to make a key pitch to help the Gamecocks win the series, I’m going with Brendan Sweeney. I have a feeling these games are going to come down to the wire. That’s how they were last year, with both games being decided by one run. If South Carolina is ahead in the ninth inning, I’d fully expect Sweeney to be on the mound to try and seal the deal. It’s never going to be easy facing this Clemson lineup, especially if he has to do it on the road. But I like his chances since he’s been great so far this year as the closer.

mckee4usc: If you were making the lineup for Friday night, who would you play in LF? Have to feel like Woita is the DH, especially against a right-handed SP, so that would eliminate Kennedy Jones from DHing. Just wondering if you’d go with Jackson in LF instead of Jones to minimize the risk of that stupid warning track at DKS playing a part in the game since Jackson has played a few games in his career as an OF at DKS.

You’re not wrong about that non-existent warning track at Doug Kingsmore Stadium. I like the quirky side of baseball, with interesting parts of different stadiums. But the fact that Clemson doesn’t have a real warning track and just a grass hill in the outfield is weird. And we’ve seen it affect South Carolina before. I still remember Carson Hornung struggling to play left field out there in that Friday game two years ago. So, it’s going to be a challenge for all Gamecock outfielders.

Since you only have to play one game out there, I think you ride with Kennedy Jones in left field. He hasn’t done anything this year that screamed he can’t play his position for this team. I believe he could hold his own. It’s just going to be a situation where you might hold your breath for a few seconds any time a fly ball is hit into left. If anything, though, making a late-game substitution on defense is where I could see putting a better outfielder in the game to handle the playing surface.

Win tickets to USC-Clemson baseball (Sunday game in Columbia)

washington cock: Jack, how do you feel about the 3 game format – at either Clemson or Columbia on Friday, Fluor Field in Greenville on Saturday and to either Clemson or Founder’s Park on Sunday? Personally, I love it as the travel is not too bad for either team and Greenville is a nice neutral location for the Saturday game.

This will be my first time as a reporter going to all three games at all three sites. I should’ve done it last year, but the Friday game at Founders Park got rained out and was never made up. So I’m really looking forward to it, especially going back to Fluor Field since it’s modeled after Fenway Park. To answer your question, I do like the current format. It’s certainly unique in having to play at three locations in one weekend. The two neutral site locations in Greenville and Segra Park in Columbia are good ballparks. And then I think it’s fair to play one game apiece at DKS and Founders. I just don’t know how everyone would like playing the series at one spot only for the weekend. There’s more appeal, at least in my opinion, when you’re going around the state like they will be beginning on Friday.

gacock: How deep is Clempson’s bullpen, Jack? What do you know about them? How many returned from last year’s roster? Who is their “go-to” out of the pen?

It’s a small sample size, but Clemson’s bullpen has looked fine so far this year. The Tigers seem to have their guys who they can already count on to get some outs. However, it hasn’t been perfect, and they’re still figuring out what it will look like by the time ACC play starts in a few weeks. As a team, Clemson owns a 5.56 ERA in eight games. But there are seven relievers with a sub-2.00 ERA. Clemson also has its share of arms who have struggled, hence why the overall ERA has been so high. In total, they have 11 relievers back from the 2024 team.

From what I’ve been told, Drew Titsworth is their go-to guy right now. He’s been solid in the six innings he’s pitched, with six strikeouts and one walk. He’s held opponents to a .182 batting average. So when the Tigers get into a tight spot this weekend, this is who I expect to see on the mound if he’s available.

AustinG_27: Sorry for double dipping haha, but what is your opinion on the catcher situation? I don’t know that we’ve had a large enough sample size quite yet, but it feels like Bakes Or Kaufer give us better offense with similar defense. Thanks!

The production hasn’t been amazing. You’d like to see LeCroy hit a bit better after doing so in the fall and preseason. But for the foreseeable future, Mainieri seems to be good with LeCroy as his No. 1 catcher. If it were me and his struggles continued beyond this weekend, I’d start looking at Bakes or Kaufer as serious options. The sample size is too small right now to say they are clearly better hitters, but they’ve shown some pop at the plate, while LeCroy hasn’t. And I don’t think any of them are substantially better than the rest as defenders. So, eventually, if LeCroy doesn’t get it going, I think there needs to be a real look into making a change with who starts. But for now, I’m okay with him as the starter because I think he’s going to turn it around soon enough.

Wildbunch2: Nothing makes a groundskeeper’s job easier than Ray Tanner Field being irrigated w/ Tater Tears. Let the Tater Tears rain down Sunday afternoon!

Enough said. Welcome to rivalry weekend, y’all.

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