Gamecocks ready for big road test at Ole Miss
The biggest opposing crowd Brannon Jordan pitched in front of in his South Carolina career was just over 5,600 at Clemson at the beginning of the 2020 season.
This weekend, though, he’ll face over double that as the Gamecocks head to Ole Miss for a three-game set trying to make a serious push for a regional host site with four SEC series left to go.
“It’ll be really exciting. The atmosphere is fun. Obviously it’ll be pretty hectic but you can’t be too high or too low with those fans yelling or being quiet,” Jordan said. “You just have to ride the wave and compete.”
Last weekend Ole Miss averaged over 10,825 fans over three games with the final two games of the series having over 11,600 fans.
And it’ll be a matchup of two teams trying to play its way into hosting NCAA regional games this June.
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The first cut of regional sites will be revealed the week of May 10, announcing 20 college sites that will be whittled to 16 later on as the official regional sites.
No. 13 South Carolina currently sits No. 10 in the RPI and has two straight series against RPI top 16 teams, starting this weekend at RPI No. 16 Ole Miss.
“It’s not pressure; it’s an opportunity. It’s a chance to play baseball and it’s moving in the right direction,” Mark Kingston said. “None of that is pressure. If you make it pressure, then you don’t have success. We’re going to continue to focus on what a great opportunity we have every time we take the field.”
And it’ll be another tough test for the Gamecocks, going up against a staunch starting pitching staff and statistically the best offense in the SEC.
The No. 19 Rebels have projected top 10 pick Gunnar Hoglund starting Friday night followed by lefty Dough Nikhazy, who carries a paltry 1.81 ERA into this weekend.
Pair that with an offense leading the league over the last 18 games batting average, on base percentage and slugging by slashing .306/.397/.470 with the second-most runs scored (126), hits (196) and doubles (36).
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“I’m ready to rock, and Ole Miss is going to be tough too. It’s just another weekend in the SEC and you have to be ready to compete in the SEC each week,” Jordan said. “That’s how we’ve been going as a staff.”
It’ll be a tough test for a Gamecock pitching staff second in league games in team ERA (3.45), opponent batting average (.212) and batters struck out (205).
“Obviously our bullpen is high-caliber and me, (Will) Sanders and (Thomas) Farr will be ready to go too,” Jordan said. “It just another really good team in the SEC that can hit. You just have to be really ready to compete on the weekend.”
The Gamecocks are also going to be trying to hit Ole Miss’s top two pitchers trying to bounce back from a weekend at Arkansas where they scored eight runs on 13 hits in the series.
“We’ve had a couple days to get after it offensively. We just have to get better. We know it has to get better. It has to get better with a lot of individual guys and has to get better as a group, and I think it will,” Kingston said.
“We got after it pretty good this week offensively in our practices. I’m hoping it pays off for these guys by getting Clarke going, getting guys going that when we’re at the top of our game we’re very competitive with anybody in the country offensively.
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Game times (ET): 7:30 p.m./7 p.m./12:30 p.m.
Television: SEC Network Plus/SEC Network/SEC Network Plus
Radio: 107.5 FM
Probable pitchers
Friday: RHP Thomas Farr (2-4, 3.66 ERA) vs. RHP Gunnar Hoglund (3-2, 2.73 ERA) Saturday: RHP Brannon Jordan (4-2, 3.04 ERA) vs. LHP Doug Nikhazy (4-2, 1.81 ERA) Sunday: RHP Will Sanders (6-2, 2.70 ERA) vs. RHP Drew McDaniel (4-0, 4.15 ERA)
