Gamecocks optimistic about offensive potential this season

Brannon Jordan still remembers how frustrating it was.

The junior in charge of managing one team during South Carolina’s fall World Series remembers just how hard it was to fill out a lineup and see what he was going up against.

And he thinks it’s a good problem to have for South Carolina and bodes well for what kind of offensive team the Gamecocks can be this season.

“There were no holes in either lineup,” Jordan said. “That was our team separated. When we’re together it’s fun to look at and piece the puzzle together to see who’s getting the most ABs. This lineup has a lot of potentials and can do a lot of good things.”

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Heading into the season the story of this year’s team has been the frontline pitchers and the Gamecocks’ deep stable of arms throwing at or above 95 miles per hour, but there’s a belief among the players and staff of an improved offense in 2021.

The Gamecocks return six of their eight top hitters from last season, and get a fully healthy Brennan Milone to start the season.

“I think it can be very good. It’s a good balance of guys who’ve been in this league who are older and understand what it takes to be good. Then we have young guys who have good examples in front of them right now. They’ll have to go through it and experience it but hopefully their learning curve will be a little shorter,” assistant Trip Couch said.

“I don’t have a ceiling for our offense. We’ll see. We have to go out there and do it but I’m very encouraged by it.”

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The last full season played was a struggle at the plate for South Carolina, ranking at or near the bottom in a lot of offensive categories. The Gamecocks hit .236/.333/.427 in a largely feast or famine year with 75 home runs and 511 strikeouts while averaging 5.5 runs per game.

Albeit in a small sample size of 16 games (none in the SEC), the Gamecocks showed some improvement. They’d end the year slashing .272/.386/.451 with four players hitting over .300 when the season ended. They struck out at a lower rate, down five percent from 2019, and averaged 1.4 more runs per game.

“I think the potential is really high. Last year we had some huge improvements and it was only the beginning of the season and we were just getting rolling,” Milone said. “We have a good mix of hitters in this lineup and everyone will have their own role. I think the potential is really, really high for this group.”

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Head coach Mark Kingston compares this year’s offense to his first in Columbia, a team slashing .275/.368/.447 with a 20.1 percent strikeout rate, 79 homers that averaged 6.2 runs en route to a Super Regional.

Time will tell if the Gamecocks can put together a well-rounded offense and compliment what’s expected to be a deep pitching staff, but the hope on the team and with the coaches is it has a chance to be good.

“I anticipate it being a good offensive club. You started to see the signs of it last year. We had it ’18,” Kingston said. “We had a good team in terms of national rankings and how we ranked in the SEC offensively, and I think this team will be similar to that.”