Gamecocks shake up weekend rotation

SOUTH CAROLINA GAMECOCKS BASEBALL

When the Gamecocks start their series Friday night against Auburn, they'll do it with a new frontline starter.

Mark Kingston announced Thursday freshman Daniel Lloyd will start for South Carolina Friday night against the No. 15 Tigers.

“Danny has done enough now in his smaller roles and did fine on the Tuesday nights he’s started that he gets a shot," Mark Kingston said. "We’ll see how he does. Hopefully he does great.”

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Lloyd is 2-1 this year with a 4.32 ERA in seven appearances (8.1 innings). He's started twice, both on the midweek. Pitching on a pitch count, he has a 3.86 ERA in two starts with five strikeouts to four walks. He's given up four hits.

Lloyd's been one of the team's go-to arms in the pen and is one of the harder-throwing arms on the staff with a fastball up to 94 miles per hour with a really good breaking ball most young pitchers don't have, according to teammates that had to face him in scrimmages.

“He has an electric arm. He has the velocity; he has off-speed pitches that he can throw for strikes that are pretty nasty," Chris Cullen said. "He carries himself pretty well on the mound. Being an older guy and facing him on the mound, I didn’t feel like I was facing a freshman, which is good for us and promising for us going forward.”

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Wes Sweatt (1-2, 4.84 ERA) started the last two Friday night games in the SEC but was knocked around against Tennessee and came out of the bullpen Tuesday night against North Carolina A&T.

Sweatt, another true freshmen, had a 1.35 ERA before being inserted into the rotation. In three starts he has a 7.82 ERA with a 1.74 WHIP.

“He’s just had better success out of the bullpen," Kingston said. "The stats are very clear that Wesley, his ERA was in the ones out of the bullpen and as a starter not so much. Some decisions are pretty easy to make.”

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The Gamecocks (16-9, 1-5 SEC) will also start Reid Morgan (2-0, 2.56 ERA) on Saturday with no announcement on who will start Sunday. TJ Shook (2-0, 2.66 ERA) has started the last two SEC Sunday games against Georgia and Tennessee.

South Carolina is coming off a stretch where they've lost three of the last four games, including being shutout against North Carolina A&T.

They're off to their second straight 1-5 start in SEC play, doing it last year before finishing 16-8 in conference and making a Super Regional.

First pitch Friday is scheduled for 7 p.m. Tanner Burns (3-0, 1.41 ERA) is starting for the Tigers opposite Lloyd.