South Carolina trying to get offense back on track as Tennessee comes to Founders Park

South Carolina saw something Tuesday night it hadn’t seen at the plate in a while. 

Talmadge LeCroy was down a quick 0-2 in his at-bat before fouling off five pitches and launching at the time a two-run, game-tying home run. 

The at-bat personified what the Gamecocks had been through the first 40 games of the season and something it had gotten away from over the last three SEC series.

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“Over the past couple of weeks, I feel like we’ve been trying to go get the game a little bit and not let it come to us. We have to let it come to us and let our ability do the work. See the ball well and do not try to force things. People feel like they have a lot of pressure on them putting them in spots they don’t want to be put in or haven’t been put in ever,” LeCroy said. 

“Let the game come to you is something we did early in the season. People were thinking the pitching staff would be better than the hitting and it put a chip on our shoulder. We let the game come to us and we have to get back to that.” 

The Gamecocks’ offense has bogged down in recent weeks with a banged-up lineup struggling to put up much of anything in terms of runs or OPS with a .231/.341/.352 slash line over the last nine SEC games. 

Now back closer to healthy with Braylen Wimmer and LeCroy back in the lineup, the offense is hoping to get back to that machine it was earlier in the season.

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“We just really put an emphasis on what our foundation is. That’s using the whole field and not trying to pull fastballs. It’s being willing to put the fastball in the opposite game when you get the opportunity. That keeps you on the offspeed pitches,” Mark Kingston said.

“I’ve noticed the last one to two weeks we’ve been taking a lot of hanging breaking balls we had been crushing all year. When you can drive the fastball the other way it keeps your bat in the zone long enough to hit hanging breaking balls and hanging changeups. It all works together.”

One key to that is getting Ethan Petry going. Petry, over his last three SEC series, is slashing .161/.325/.161 with no extra-base hits and two RBI. He showed flashes Tuesday in a loss while going 2-for-5 with a pair of doubles. He hit another ball to the wall in left field. 

“We saw some things that were just a little different in his setup and his load up. It’s little tweaks and I think he was getting a little too pull-happy. There’s a cause and effect there. Are the mechanics causing him to pull the ball too much? Is it mentally he’s trying to pull the ball too much and that’s causing the mechanics? It’s different with every hitter,” Kingston said.

“The bottom line is he needs to get back to being a guy who drives the ball to the middle of the field. We saw signs of that last night. He had two doubles last night and saw signs of him being back much closer to what he’d been for the majority of the season.” 

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Kingston said he saw a “glimpse” of what South Carolina had been offensively on Tuesday. The Gamecocks had nine runs on nine hits with three home runs, looking more like the team they had been most of the year. 

It’s now about putting it all together and making a push for a regional host. That starts this weekend against Tennessee. Taking two out of three this weekend could almost assuredly give South Carolina a hosting spot.

“If we get back to full capacity I think we go right back to being one of the best teams in the country,” Kingston said. “I’m 100 percent confident in that.”

Series details

Who: No. 13 South Carolina (37-15, 15-11 SEC) vs. No. 18 Tennessee (36-17, 14-13 SEC)

When: Thursday, May 18 through Saturday, May, 20

Where: Founders Park (Capacity: 8,242)

Game times (ET): Friday, 7 p.m.; Saturday, 7 p.m.; Sunday, 2 p.m.

How to watch: Thursday and Friday, SEC Network Plus; Saturday, SEC Network

How to listen: 107.5 FM and the Gamecock Radio Network

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Probable pitching

Thursday: RHP Eli Jones (4-3, 3.40 ERA) vs. RHP Andrew Lindsey (1-2, 2.98 ERA)

Friday: TBA vs. RHP Chase Dollander (6-5, 4.35 ERA)

Saturday: TBA vs. TBA

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