South Carolina enters the SEC Tournament knowing it’s in the NCAA postseason, fighting now for a shot at hosting a regional and being one of the top 16 seeds in the country.
While they do it, though, they won’t be at full strength with a few guys still nursing injuries as the regular season ends and postseason play begins.
“(Braylen) Wimmer should be fine but he’s not at 100 percent. Milone is obviously not at 100 percent. Callil is not at 100 percent, Wimmer’s not at 100 percent and believe it or not Michael (Robinson) was a little sick at practice today,” Mark Kingston said. “We’re keeping it together now with tape but when they say play ball we’ll be ready to go with whoever’s ready to go.”
Wimmer is dealing with a lower body injury but has played through it of late, starting all three games against Tennessee last weekend.
Brennan Milone, though, has missed the last four games on the schedule—one against Appalachian State and the series against Tennessee—hampered by a hamstring injury he picked up in the series finale at Kentucky.
They might also be without George Callil, who aggravated his oblique Thursday night against Tennessee that kept him out the last two games of the Tennessee series.
All three—Wimmer, Milone and Callil—have been staples in the starting lineup all season, especially in league play.
Wimmer’s started all 30 games in SEC play slashing .211/.244/.382 while Milone’s hitting .208/.344/.321 in 17 league games, all starts.
Callil is arguably the Gamecocks’ best defender and has started all but two games in SEC play (the only two being after his injury). Callil is hitting .161/.276/.315.
“Brennan is day to day but he’s making good progress. George is day to day. It can go either way at this point,” Kingston said. “We don’t want to rush them back because the thing about knowing we’re in the NCAA Tournament is we want to make sure they’re at 100 percent.”
With Milone out, Jeff Heinrich’s played third base while Michael Robinson’s the backup at shortstop. If Wimmer can’t play, then it could be a variety of options, including moving Heinrich to second and playing Joe Satterfield at third.
What the Gamecocks (33-20, 16-14 SEC) know is they won’t be quick to rush any of the banged up guys back knowing there are important games next week too in the NCAA Tournament.
“We’re going to be more on the conservative side instead of rushing them back to get them to full health as much as we can for the NCAA Tournament,” Kingston said. “We still want to win these games, but we have to have the big picture in mind. Those guys will continue to stay day to day."
SEC Tournament play begins for South Carolina Tuesday in a single elimination game against Alabama. First pitch is tentatively scheduled for 2 p.m. ET.
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