Baseball preview: Davidson

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DAVIDSON (23-10) at NO. 11 SOUTH CAROLINA (30-10)

When: 7 p.m.

Where: Carolina Stadium

Tickets: Available at the box office

TV: FOX Sports South

Last meeting: USC won 12-4 in Columbia on March 13, 2013.

Probable starting pitchers

South Carolina Fr. RHP Reed Scott (1-0, 1.17 ERA, 23 IP, 5 BB, 17 K).

Davidson Jr. RHP Nick Neitzel (6-0, 2.58 ERA, 45.1 IP, 17 BB, 41 K)

Notes: South Carolina leads the all-time series history vs. Davidson 45-21-1. The Wildcats enter Tuesday in first place in the Southern Conference with 13-3 mark in conference games. Head coach Dick Cooke is in his 24th year as head coach of the Wildcats. In addition, he has served several stints with USA Baseball, including as an auxiliary coach for the U.S. Olympic Team that won a gold medal alongside former Gamecock head coach Ray Tanner. Cooke was also Tanner's pitching coach on the 2003 U.S. Collegiate National Team that won a silver medal at the Pan American games. Davidson last defeated the Gamecocks 4-1 on April 7, 1970, at Davidson.

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WHAT TO WATCH: Two freshmen - outfielder Gene Cone (providing he's in the lineup again) and starting pitcher Reed Scott.

Scott has earned the start tonight thanks in small part to the broken nose of Evan Beal that's being set this week (he could return as early as next week) and in large part to the outstanding job he's done on the hill for USC this season, including two clutch performances in SEC wins over Mississippi and Tennessee when he threw six scoreless innings in each.

Scott has allowed just three runs on 14 hits in 23 innings of relief this season and is making his first career start tonight.

Cone is coming off his best weekend as a Gamecocks, coming through for USC in both victories at Auburn. He belted a career-high three hits, including a game-tying RBI double in the top of the ninth inning to help South Carolina rally for a 3-2 win at Auburn on Saturday. He then followed that up on Sunday going 1-for-3 with game-winning RBI sacrifice fly in the eighth inning of South Carolina's 4-3 win at Auburn.