Gamecock Baseball Earns Mid-Week Win; Can They Make A Regional?

There really weren't many moments where the game was in doubt in yesterday's mid-week win against North Carolina A&T. After scoring 6 runs in the first 3 innings, the Gamecocks cruised to a 9-4 win against the Aggies. The bats came alive for many key contributors, with Braylen Wimmer and Colin Burgess each collecting three hits, and Josiah Sightler, Andrew Eyster, and Evan Stone contributing two hits apiece. All together the Gamecocks outhit the Aggies 15 to 8. On the horizon is another set of Aggies, but they should prove to be a more formidable opponent, as South Carolina travels to the #13 ranked Texas A&M Aggies for a pivotal 3-game series this weekend. The Gamecocks have had their struggles on the road this season, where they are just 2-10, compared to 19-9 at home. If South Carolina hopes to make the post-season, they'll have to correct that quickly, with only 3 SEC series remaining, and two of them on the road. Let's take a look at what it will likely take for the young Gamecock lineup to make a regional and keep their season alive into June.

With an unlikely sweep over Alabama last weekend, South Carolina has positioned themselves for a shot at making a regional, which looked pretty hopeless this time last week, but they still have quite a bit of work to do. They are currently sitting at 22-20 overall and 9-12 in the SEC. In the modern era, any SEC team that has finished at least 15-15 in conference play has made the tournament. That would mean South Carolina would need to go 6-3 down the stretch with series at Texas A&M, home vs. Kentucky, and at Florida. Neither Kentucky nor Florida is quite the juggernaut that they have been in recent history, but it's unlikely to ever expect a sweep either. If South Carolina can win 2 out of 3 against both and steal at least one from Texas A&M this weekend, the Gamecocks should find their way into a regional.

In fact, many SEC teams that have finished 14-16 in conference play have also found their way into the tournament in recent years, so if the Gamecocks could hold serve in mid-week games, and combine to go just 5-4 in their remaining SEC games, they would still have a pretty good shot at sneaking in, though a couple of wins in the SEC Tournament would certainly prove crucial. Of their remaining mid-week games USC Upstate is ranked 146 in RPI and Charlotte sits at 79. South Carolina’s current RPI of 64 is definitely not enough at the moment, but if they finished the season 7-4, or 8-3 (or better), there's no doubt that it would creep up into bubble range. At the moment, Baseball America has the Gamecocks in the "Next Four Out" category, and D-1 Baseball doesn't have the Gamecocks listed at all.

There is little doubt that South Carolina has put itself in a position where the margin for error is exceptionally narrow, but given the remaining schedule, there is hope that if the team can continue to play as well as it has for the last week, they can sneak into a post-season berth.