Brett Kerry found out the way most everyone else did Sunday night.

The Gamecocks’ pitcher was standing in his apartment, refreshing Twitter right at 8:30 p.m. when the news popped up on his phone: postseason baseball will be played at Founders Park.

Kerry, normally even keel on the mound, said he let out a scream and celebrated the first big step for South Carolina this postseason.

“It’s absolutely huge,” Kerry said. “There’s no better place to play in the country than Founders, especially when you’re the home team. We’re definitely super excited and can’t wait to go out and enjoy the home field advantage.”

It’s a little unconventional—South Carolina is hosting as the No. 2 seed with Old Dominion the No. 1 and the No. 11 overall seed in the tournament—but the Gamecocks are playing in front of a home crowd and won’t have to travel to play in a regional.

Kerry doesn’t think being a two seed will impact things much, saying if a team wants to win a regional it’ll have to play the best teams there no matter what.

“You’re going to end up playing the best teams there, whether it’s Old Dominion, Jacksonville or Virginia,” Kerry said. “If we were the one seed, we could end up facing the two or the three. It feels like we’d play them anyway. At least we’re at Founders and we get that home field advantage.”

This is the first time the Gamecocks have hosted a regional since 2016 and the first time since Mark Kingston took over after the 2017 season.

South Carolina went to a Super Regional in his first season, finishing a win shy of the College World Series, before missing the tournament in 2019 and finally getting back into the field of 64 after the 2020 tournament was canceled.

“It’s another good step for us in the process. You want to get to Omaha; you want to win national championships. That’s what we all want to do here,” Kingston said of hosting. “This is what we want to do here to make sure we’re moving in the right direction. I think it shows the proper progress, the process is in place and it’s another check the box moment for us to be where we want it to be.”

South Carolina will play Virginia Friday afternoon with the winner taking on the winner of the late game, Old Dominion and Jacksonville. The two losers will play in an elimination game Saturday.

The Gamecocks will play early Friday but could, with a win, play the evening game Saturday night with what could likely be a packed house at Founders Park.

“It’s huge from a crowd standpoint, it’s huge from just not having to travel, getting to sleep in our own beds,” Andrew Eyster said. “Having the home field advantage and the fans here is a huge part, the main part for sure. There are so many other things staying here, not having to go anywhere. It’s a huge deal and it’s going to help us a lot.”

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