Bosnic shines in bullpen, Kingston talks evaluating Sunday starter

South Carolina’s tweak to its starting rotation paid off this weekend against Florida.

Not only did the Gamecocks get enough out of freshman Will Sanders on Sunday but potentially found a dynamic piece of the puzzle in the bullpen with Julian Bosnic.

Bosnic, who started on Sundays the in four of the first five weekend series, moved to a relief role this weekend and made a big impact as the Gamecocks swept the Gators.

“It was just, ‘Hey, this is a huge series especially if we can win a Friday night game.’ it’s much easier to win a series that way,” Bosnic said of his conversation with the coaching staff. “I was fine with it and had no problem with it. I did take it as a challenge cause I haven’t thrown out of the bullpen in a while. It was nice to get back out there and give a few shutout innings.”

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Bosnic was a solid option as the Gamecocks’ third starter but struggled some in his last two starts before moving to the bullpen where he had two tremendous outings against the Gators.

In two appearances this weekend he tossed five innings of one-run baseball, gave up two hits and struck out eight to no walks while getting up to 97 miles per hour on his fastball.

He’s made three outings in relief this season—his first was against Clemson—with a 1.50 ERA, a 0.33 WHIP and a strike percentage of almost 70 with a .118 batting average against.

“It’s hard to ignore what he did. He had two great outings,” Mark Kingston said. “At this point in his career, maybe this is just a better role for him. He can come in more fearless, come in and not try to pace himself. For a young pitcher sometimes that’s a better role.”

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With Bosnic’s emergence out of the bullpen, the Gamecocks have a decision to make now: move him back to the Sunday starter role, keep it TBA like they did against Florida or slide someone else into the No. 3 role heading into this weekend’s series.

Freshman Will Sanders, making his second start in the same week, threw four innings Sunday in an 8-5 win, giving up three runs (two earned) on two hits and striking out six to one walk.

The Gamecocks (16-6, 4-2 SEC) head to Georgia this weekend and Kingston mentioned they wouldn’t be shy about giving Sanders the ball against his home state team if they ultimately decide to go that route.

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“Well we gave him the ball today so I don’t know what would change next week. We’ll have to see,” Kingston said. “We have options and want to continue to look at the options. He obviously would not start on Tuesday, so that could potentially play into it as well.”

If Bosnic sticks in the bullpen, it gives the Gamecocks a left-handed option they could use multiple days on the weekend to pair with a slew of right-handers like Andy Peters, Brett Kerry, Jack Mahoney and Daniel Lloyd.

“That was the plan the whole weekend,” Bosnic said. “We talked—coach Kingston, coach (Skylar) Meade and I—I knew I could throw Friday, I knew I could throw Saturday and I knew I could throw Sunday. Whatever the team asks me to do, I’m ready to do it.”