Who: #24 South Carolina 27-13 (9-9) vs #4 Kentucky 32-7 (15-3). Columbia, SC

Time/TV: Friday 7:00 pm, Saturday 6:00 pm and Sunday 3:00pm. Saturday and Sunday's games will air on the SEC Network with Friday's game streaming on SEC Network +.

Line: Friday night only: SC -120, UK -110.

Projected Starting Pitchers: Friday, Roman Kimball (R-So. RHP) 2-1, 4.24 ERA, 23.1 IP, 24 BB, 32Ks, .165 BAA v. Trey Pooser (Gr. RHP) 3-0, 4.17 ERA, 41.0 IP, 14 BB, 37Ks, .227 BAA.

Saturday, Eli Jones (Jr. RHP) 3-1, 3.47 ERA, 49.1 IP, 13 BB, 41Ks, .269 BAA.. v. Dominic Niman (Gr. LHP) 7-3, 4.08 ERA, 53.0 IP, 14 BB, 47K, .239 BAA.

Sunday, TBA vs. Mason Moore (Jr. RHP) 7-0, 3.96 ERA, 52.0 IP, 24 BB, 45Ks, .210 BAA.

Kentucky is one of the few teams in the country that will throw two graduate senior starting pitchers in the same weekend. There are two ways to look at that. One, they are experienced and older players. Two, if they were that good, they'd be playing professionally at this point. Friday night starter Trey Pooser is a native of Hanahan, SC, and played previously at College of Charleston. He was teammates with South Carolina pitcher Ty Good. Kentucky also mined the Palmetto State for closer Johnny Hummel. Hummel played at Erskine College for four years before deciding to transfer to Kentucky for his extra Covid season. He leads the Wildcats in saves and sports an ERA of 1.25 in 21.2 inning pitched. Hummel has allowed only seven hits on the season and has struck out 31 batters. The Cats also pulled outfielder Ryan Waldschmidt from the portal via Charleston Southern. He's batting .361 with eight homers in his second season in Lexington.

Saturday starter Dominic Niman's name might seem familiar to our readers. Last season he was the ace of Central Connecticut State's staff. CCSU played in the Columbia Regional last season and did not start Niman against the Gamecocks. Mark Kingston and staff were after Niman as soon as he entered his name into the transfer portal.

History: Carolina holds an ever narrowing 59-46 all-time series lead and a 34-14 series lead in Columbia. Kentucky has won the last four meetings including a sweep last season in Lexington. Home field advantage might not as much as it does in this series for the Gamecocks against any other SEC opponent. Kentucky has won 5-of-6 series contested in Lexington and the Gamecocks have won 11-of-13 series in Columbia. Mark Kingston is 8-7 at Carolina against the Wildcats.

Last Meeting: The first weekend in May brought about the low point of the 2023 Gamecock season and it all started against the Cats. Carolina was swept by Kentucky, then came home to loss a midweek game to North Florida, dropped two-of-three to Arkansas and Tennessee, with another midweek lost to Charlotte sandwiched in between. Not many Gamecocks had weekend to remember at UK last season but Gavin Casas went 5-12 with three home runs.

Weather: Great weekend for baseball. Not too hot or cold. Friday night temps will temp into the mid 60s. Sat and Sunday will be played in high 70s weather. Should be a dry weekend as well.

Kentucky Head Coach Nick Mingione has been as good as evaluating and landing talent from the transfer portal as anyone in the country. This is Mingione's eighth season in Lexington. He's led UK to two Super Regionals while compiling a 248-155 record. Kentucky's program has risen in the age of portal. In the last two season they are 72-26 and 31-17 in the SEC. In the past, Kentucky baseball has put together a few a good seasons but they haven't been a power year in and year out. They are trending that way now. The Cats are currently 3rd nationally in RPI. They've lost only two series this season, dropping two-of-three to Tennessee and Kennesaw State, both at home.

As a team, UK is batting 30 points higher than the Gamecocks at .296 to .266. Kentucky is by far the most prolific team in the league on the base paths with 81 stolen bases in 102 attempts. (Both SEC highs). They've also struck out the second fewest times amongst SEC teams with only 286 on the season. Nick Lopez leads Kentucky with a .386 average while Ryan Nicholson has 12 home runs and 38 RBIs.

On the mound, the Wildcat starters don't blow anyone away but Kentucky has four quality arms in the bullpen in the aforementioned Hummel, Robert Hogan, Evan Byers, and Jackson Nove.

“They hit for power, they hit close to .300. They score runs at a pretty good clip. So it’s just a well rounded offense. It’s a well rounded team,” Kingston said. “They pitch well, they’re good out of the bullpen, they play good defense. They have a 32-7 record just because I think they’re very, very good across the board.”

Will Tippet is out this week with a concussion. Lee Ellis will get another shot in the Gamecock lineup against a Top 4 opponent. Last week he went 3-for-6 with two doubles and three runs scored after Tippet left Friday's game. Kingston also said "you might see some things this weekend you haven't seen all year." Last week Kingston started Austin Brinling and hit him in the lead off spot. He responded going 4-for-10 with two runs scored and two RBIs.

If you haven't checked out Alan Cole's baseball stories from this week, click here for a statistical analysis of the Gamecocks' troubles hitting with runners in scoring position. Also, click here for the feeling inside clubhouse about Carolina's need to win a big SEC series.

South Carolina is going to win one of these big weekend home series and they need to at 2-4 in SEC series. Kentucky historically does not play well in Columbia. Carolina takes this series 2-1.