South Carolina baseball: everything you need to know before opening day
Fire up the grill and bust out the scorecard. South Carolina baseball is officially here.
The Gamecocks begin their season Friday afternoon with the first three games against UNC Greensboro.
Before South Carolina officially kicks things off, here’s everything you need to know for opening day.
Game times, how to watch
Friday: 4 p.m. (SEC Network Plus)
Saturday: 12:30 p.m. (SEC Network Plus)
Sunday: 1:30 p.m. (SEC Network Plus)
Probable pitching matchups (South Carolina listed first with last year’s stats)
Friday: RHP Will Sanders (6-3, 3.54 ERA) vs. RHP Austin Koehn (4-3, 5.11 ERA)
Saturday: RHP James Hicks vs. LHP Jared Mathewson (3-3, 5.09 ERA)
Sunday: LHP Josiah Sightler (1-0, 4.70 ERA) vs. RHP Austin Parsley (8-2, 3.30 ERA)
Scouting UNC Greensboro
The Spartans from a pitching standpoint are going backward, throwing their ace Sunday in an effort to try and steal a game Sunday. They’re returning a key piece in the lineup as well in Greg Hardison, who hit .312 last season with 15 doubles and almost 40 RBI.
Hogan Windish, a preseason all-league player, is paired with him. The Southern Conference projects UNC-G to finish fifth but it’s a team with the ability to win games against teams like South Carolina.
Leading off…literally
The Gamecocks are losing leadoff hitter Brady Allen, leaving a void at the top of the lineup. They’ll try and fill it with two newcomers, at least early, and see where it goes from there.
“Early in the season you’re probably looking at (Brandt) Belk and maybe (Michael) Braswell in that one-two, two-one category,” Mark Kingston said. “A lot of it is we just have to run them out there, see what it looks like and make adjustments if need be. I would say those are the two guys right now you’re looking at as table setters.”
Belk, a left-handed Missouri transfer, slashed .273/.320/.416 last season with 26 strikeouts while Braswell is a freshman and former top 100 prospect who has good bat-to-ball skills.
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Spots still up for grabs
Most starting spots are lined up at this point with just a few left to be decided before opening day: centerfield and designated hitter.
Right now, Matt Hogan is the opening day starter but the Gamecocks have options there.
“Hopefully he’ll run with it and never look back but if he struggles a little bit or we see some issues that need to be looked at then there are other guys. I feel good we’ll be able to cover centerfield. (Elijah) Lambros is a 6.5 runner; (Evan) Stone’s a 6.5 runner and Hogan provides left-handed power from the centerfield position and has good range out there as well. I feel good about that position but it’s a matter of who runs with it.”
The designated hitter is the other spot where the Gamecocks have plenty of options ranging from Talmadge LeCroy to Carson Hornung and Thad Ector. They could platoon that spot early.
Sanders starting for South Carolina
It’s no secret who the ace of this staff is right now and that falls on sophomore Will Sanders.
The Gamecocks’ righty is coming off a fantastic freshman year and expected to take the next jump where he becomes the anchor of a staff. He’ll be a sophomore making an opening day start, something he’s more than ready for.
“It’s all I’ve been thinking about for eight months. It’s exciting,” Sanders said. “I get the opportunity to show my work and how it’s helped me and hope it goes well.”
