Where South Carolina ranks statistically halfway through SEC play

The midway point of South Carolina’s SEC slate is here.

It’s been a rollercoaster of a 2022 for the Gamecocks, which sit one game above .500 overall and 6-9 through their first 15 SEC games. As the back half of league play begins, here’s a look at where things stand statistically.

South Carolina’s largely been a good situational hitting team at times in SEC play, hitting .326 with runners on base. The Gamecocks are also hitting .667 with a runner at third and fewer than two outs as well.

But outside of that, the Gamecocks have really struggled offensively in league play. They rank last in two of the three slash categories—batting average (.221) and on base percentage (.310) and 13th in slugging (.379).

It didn’t help facing two of the top four SEC pitching staffs early in SEC play, and they had more success in series against Ole Miss and Georgia, both ranking near the bottom in terms of team ERA.

Where they’ve been better compared to last year is drawing walks. South Carolina is 11th in the SEC with 53 while striking out less. They’ve struck out 135 times in SEC play, fifth-fewest through five league weekends.

South Carolina base runners have also stolen 10 bases, tied for seventh-most in the SEC, which is an improvement from last year.

Brandt Belk is statistically one of the best hitters in SEC play so far. The super senior ranks second in batting average (.396), fifth in on-base percentage (.467) and top 15 in slugging (.642).

Josiah Sightler, who’s been fantastic of late, is eighth in the SEC in slugging percentage at .744.

The pitching staff has been up and down, marred with injuries during a tough 2022 season.

The Gamecocks rank 10th in the SEC in team ERA at 6.54 and ninth in opposing batting average against at .283. They don’t strike out as many batters as last year but rank ninth through 15 games with 38.

South Carolina ranks in the middle of the pack in a lot of major categories on the mound: tied for eighth in hits allowed (147), seventh in runs allowed (102), seventh in walks allowed (61).

Where the staff has struggled is allowing home runs, allowing the second-most (27) in SEC play. Pitchers have also hit 16 batters, tied for the third-most in the league. They’ve also thrown 14 wild pitches, tied for fourth-most.

Their two best pitchers in SEC play, Noah Hall and Will Sanders do rank fairly well among league pitchers.

Hall is tenth among all SEC pitchers with a 2.97 ERA and 14th ing batting average against (.224).  The only person who’s thrown more innings than him in SEC play is Tennessee’s Drew Beam. Sanders is right behind him with 31.1 innings.

Sanders is top 10 in strikeouts this year, punching out 32 in five starts. Hall is tied for tenth there with 30.

Cade Austin and Matthew Becker each have two saves, which is tied for fifth in the SEC.

As the Gamecocks enter the back half of SEC play, they have a stretch of winnable games left on the schedule.

South Carolina ranks No. 62 in the RPI as it sits Monday morning and has only one series left against a RPI top 15 opponent: Florida (11) to end the year.

The average RPI for the five remaining opponents is 34.8. South Carolina’s average RPI rankings in the first five weekends was 20.

The Gamecocks play at Auburn, then at home against Alabama before hitting the road to play Texas A&M. They’ll host Kentucky after that and end the year on the road at Florida.

South Carolina is 15-9 at home but just 1-7 on the road.

South Carolina Baseball: News • Recruiting • Schedule • Roster • Stats • SEC • Polls

———-

• Watch our live show and subscribe to our YouTube channel!
• Subscribe to our podcast on whatever podcast platform you prefer!
• Follow us on Twitter: @GamecockCentral, @GCChrisClark, @WesMitchellGC, @CollynTaylor and @Mike_Uva.
• Follow Gamecock Central on Instagram @GamecockCentral.