Gamecocks return home for big SEC series
After two weekends away, the Gamecocks return home to Founders Park for a three-game set with LSU.
South Carolina (20-17, 6-9 SEC) is losers of its last three and will start Logan Chapman in his first SEC start at home. The Gamecocks lost last year's series to the Tigers two games to one.
Scouting LSU
The No. 19 Tigers (24-14, 9-6 SEC) come in after sweeping Tennessee at home, outscoring the Vols 32-15 over three games, before dropping their midweek contest 10-9 to Tulane.
They haven’t started off as hot as they could have, but head coach Mark Kingston thinks LSU is trending up.
“They’re a program that generally gets hot in the second half of the season and they look like they’re starting to trend that way,” he said. “It’s an offensive team, an athletic team and they can pitch.”
Also see: The latest on a big official weekend in Columbia
The Tigers come in hitting .296 as a team with a 3.92 team ERA. Saturday starter Hilliard is statistically the team’s best pitcher with over a 3-to-1 strikeout to walk ratio. Friday starter Hess leads the team with 68 punch-outs.
“I think they’re starting to figure out their pitching,” Kingston said. “They have a power arm starting on Friday night. It’s a top 20 team, probably top 15 team trending upwards.”
Injury update
South Carolina will get one of its last injured pieces likely back in the lineup this week with another’s status still up in the air.
Head coach Mark Kingston said he thinks slugger TJ Hopkins will be available in the lineup this weekend against LSU. Hopkins, who’s hitting .314 on the year, missed the last 16 games after getting hit in the hand.
Justin Row, though, is questionable after re-tweaking his knee Tuesday night against Presbyterian. Kingston said it’ll come down to meeting with the trainers and seeing how the knee responds to a few days off.
Row, who’s batting over .330 on the year, didn’t practice Wednesday.
Also see: Could a change be coming with the 2018 hoops class?
In their own words
Mark Kingston on getting out of their offensive slump: “We train a certain way all fall and all spring in terms of how much we challenge our hitters in terms of machines and the velocity of the machines. We’ve been on the road now for eight straight games, which is close to two and a half weeks, and we haven’t been able to do that. I thought the result of that was that our swings look a little bit slower than normal and longer than normal.”
Madison Stokes on if the team feels a sense of urgency: “We know we have to kick it into gear. We know what we have to do as far as how many games to win. We can’t focus on the games we haven’t played or the games we have played. We have to focus on the game that’s next.”
Madison Stokes on what went wrong the last three games: “I think being on the road and seeing only BP and seeing only 60 miles per hour can maybe lengthen our swings a little bit and we can get too big because it’s easy to hit home runs and drive the ball when it’s coming in slow. Seeing the velocity makes you lock in a little more and shorten up.”
Also see: Gamecocks chasing another prospect from a familiar venue
Game times (all games on SEC Network plus)
Friday: 7 p.m./ Saturday: 4 p.m. / Sunday: 1:30 p.m.
Pitching match-ups
Friday: RHP Logan Chapman (2-0, 3.93 ERA) vs. RHP Zach Hess (6-3, 3.71 ERA)
Saturday: RHP Adam Hill (3-4, 4.65 ERA) vs. Ma’Khail Hilliard (7-2, 1.75 ERA)
Sunday: RHP Cody Morris (6-3, 3.61 ERA) vs. TBA