This season, Mark Kingston’s drilled home the point that each game is it’s own thing, that there are 56 standalone data points on which South Carolina will be judged on in the eyes of the NCAA selection committee.

But, with a top-five Mississippi State team coming to town and the first wave of potential regional hosts being announced after this weekend, these next three games could go a long way in determining if South Carolina is a top 16 seed in the postseason.

“You’re trying to win as many games as you can, whether that’s opening day or week 11 or week 14. You’re just trying to win games and that stuff takes care of itself,” Kingston said.

“Thinking about that, belaboring the point that regionals are going to be announced soon doesn’t help you win any games, doesn’t help you win a pitch. Our focus has to be on the field and let all the outside things take care of themselves.”

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And Kingston’s right; talking about regional sites to the team won’t win or lose a game against the Bulldogs this weekend.

But with the Gamecocks projected to make the tournament but on the outside looking in at the top 16 seeds right now in both Baseball America and D1Baseball’s projections at the moment a series win over No. 4 Mississippi State could make their resume even better.

South Carolina’s dropped their last two series in league play, one to Arkansas and on the road at Ole Miss, but are still 11-10 in the SEC and ranked No. 15 in the RPI.

Mississippi State comes in tied for second in the league at 14-7 and the No. 3 team in the RPI.

“It’s definitely another fun series. They’re a really, really good team. A lot of us really want to host a regional here,” Julian Bosnic said. “If we can win two of three or all three it would really help us get to a top 16 seed and be able to host a regional here.”

As the schedule stands now, early next week the NCAA will release 20 programs who are still in the running to host a regional for the tournament in June with 16 of those ultimately getting picked at a later date.

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D1 Baseball and Baseball America currently project the Gamecocks as a No. 2 seed. Of their 15 losses this season, 13 are against Quad I teams with 10 coming against teams currently ranked in the RPI top 10.

Both D1 and Baseball America had the Gamecocks as a host before they were swept by the Rebels.

A series win over Mississippi State and a strong finish in the SEC could catapult the Gamecocks into a regional host, and would mean the first top 16 seed in the tournament since 2016.

“I don’t think we take it too much into consideration but it’s always in the back of our minds. We haven’t hosted here in a while so it’d be really nice to get a couple games here. I think everyone wants to win also, so it’s like, ‘Hey let’s win a series here,’ after dropping three last week. If we win then we’ll set ourselves in a great position to host.”

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