South Carolina-NC State: Time, TV, pitching, weather, odds

South Carolina and NC State play in the NCAA Tournament on Saturday. Here is everything you need to watch and listen to the game, plus the start time, pitching, weather, and odds.

South Carolina-NC State: The Basics

• Date/Time: Saturday, June 1 @ 6 p.m.
• Place: Doak Field at Dail Park – Raleigh, North Carolina
• Traditional TV: None
• Streaming video: ESPN Plus with Dani Wexelman, Roddy Jones; ESPN Plus requires a subscription
• Radio: Gamecock Radio Network with Derek Scott, Stuart Lake; pregame at 5:45 p.m.
• Streaming audio: Learfield and the South Carolina Gamecocks app (Apple, Google)
• Weather:  Mostly sunny, with a high near 83, south wind around 5 mph in the afternoon
• Odds: South Carolina is a slight moneyline favorite of -126 (average of sportsbooks)

South Carolina-NC State: Probable starting pitchers

• South Carolina: Garrett Gainey (Sr. LHP) 1-4, 3.75 ERA, 48.0 IP, 9 BB, 64 SO
• NC State: Dominic Fritton (So. LHP) 3-5, 7.00 ERA, 63.0 IP, 39 BB, 64 SO

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What’s Next?

The loser of the game plays Sunday at Noon versus James Madison or Bryant.

The winner of the game plays Sunday at 6 p.m. versus the winner of Sunday’s Noon game.

Gamecock Radio Network (for baseball)

• Allendale, 93.5 FM, WDOG
• Camden, 98.7 FM, WCAM
• Camden, 1590 AM, WCAM
• Charleston, 98.9 FM, WTMZ
• Chesterfield, 107.3 FM, WVSZ
• Columbia, 107.5 FM, WNKT (flagship station)
• Florence, 96.3 FM, WOLH
• Florence, 1230 AM, WOLH
• Greenville, 104.9 FM, WROO
• Greenville, 1440 AM, WGVL
• Myrtle Beach, 100.3 FM, WSEA
• Rock Hill/Lancaster, 107.1 FM, WRHM
• Spartanburg, 98.3 FM, WSPG
• Spartanburg, 1400 AM, WSPG
• Waynesboro, 92.9 FM, WYBO

Recap of Friday’s South Carolina-James Madison game

By Jack Veltri

With a runner on first and two outs, James Madison head coach Marlin Ikenberry had an important decision to make. Intentionally walk Cole Messina for a third time and try to get the last out against Parker Noland, who was 0-for-4 up to that point. Or he could try and pitch to Messina without running the risk of putting the go-ahead run on first.

Ikenberry knew he could walk Messina and try to get Noland out for a fifth time. But instead, he decided to have one of his top arms, Joe Vogatsky, pitch to Messina.

“That’s a really hard decision for a manager or pitching coach to make there, because if you put him on, then you’re putting the winning run at the plate. And that would be a bitter pill to swallow too,” head coach Mark Kingston said. “Home runs are unlikely. Even Cole Messina, he’s got 21 homers, so there’s a 10 percent chance he’s going to hit a home run. So sometimes managers play the odds. But then also sometimes the guy’s just so hot. And you have to be careful too.”

On the first pitch out of Vogastky’s hand, Messina clobbered a mammoth two-run homer over the left field wall to tie the game up. Ikenberry’s gamble had quickly backfired. The move surprised everyone besides the one who hit the game-tying bomb.

“I felt like I just had to stay in the moment, be ready to hit no matter what,” Messina said. “I’m not like a fortune teller. I can’t pick and choose when they walk me. So I just had to stay locked in and stay focused and took a good swing.”

Just when it looked like South Carolina was dead and buried, the impossible had happened. With one swing of the bat, everything that had gone wrong up to that point had been forgotten.

And one inning later, the comeback would be complete as the Gamecocks earned an 8-7 win over James Madison in the Raleigh Regional opener on Friday.

After Chris Veach tossed a scoreless 10th inning, the Gamecocks had a chance to win it in the bottom half. Kennedy Jones got things started with a leadoff walk. Then with one out, Talmadge LeCroy laid down a solid bunt to move Jones over. But the throw to first went down the right field line and put two runners in scoring position with one out.

The odds of winning the game were now in South Carolina’s favor. Will Tippett strolled to the plate and had a chance to walk it off. There were plenty of decisions that could be made in this situation. But the Gamecocks let Tippett hit.

“I was looking for a good fastball. He had a good fastball that went up to the top of the zone,” Tippett said on the approach at the plate.

On a 2-0 pitch, Tippett got a pitch in the zone, just what he was looking for. He put a good swing on it and knew that he got it, belting out a big scream to the first base dugout. The ball carried in the air, not deep enough to leave the yard, but deep enough to bring home the winning run from third on a sacrifice fly.

“It feels good. Trying to do everything to win,” Tippett said. “I’m not Cole Messina who goes up there and seems like he’s hitting a home run every at-bat. But I’m trying to do my best to help the team win.”

While it took a last-ditch effort from the offense to make the comeback, the Gamecocks wouldn’t have had a chance if it weren’t for Veach, who came on in the sixth inning. The righty reliever tossed 4.2 innings of two-run ball on 73 pitches to keep the team in the game. It was the most pitches he’s thrown in a game this year.

In a similar spot to last week where he had a long outing, Kingston said there is a chance he could use Veach again this weekend.

“If he was a guy that threw 98 miles an hour and threw 73 pitches, you might say he’s probably done for the week. But because he’s such a changeup guy, it’s not quite as much wear and tear on the arm,” Kingston said. “So I would imagine he’ll be available not tomorrow, but maybe another day. Not in a big stint but maybe for something if you really need it, because of the type of pitcher he is.”

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