As bad as it was on the field for South Carolina baseball, it might get even worse in the training room.
After suffering a sweep at the hands of rival Clemson, head coach Paul Mainieri revealed two key injuries to starters.
Catcher Talmadge LeCroy and left fielder Kennedy Jones both missed the series finale against the Tigers with unrelated injuries.
Lecroy’s was the most glaring as backup catcher Max Kaufer struggled behind the plate, and it’s one he has been dealing with since Opening Day. Mainieri revealed after Sunday’s game that LeCroy had a thumb injury from a foul tip he took in the Feb. 14 season opener, but he re-aggravated it while making a tag at home plate in Saturday’s game against Clemson.
“He’s got a pretty significant break in his right thumb,” Mainieri said. “So he’s shown so much courage playing through it. He’s been able to throw the ball okay, it’s really bothering him the most just swinging the bat.”
What does it mean for the future at the single position South Carolina is the thinnest at right now?
“He wants to play through it,” Mainieri said. “Hopefully he’ll heal as time goes on. He’s going to get an X-Ray tomorrow to make sure the break isn’t worse than it already has been.”
As for Jones — who already had one injury scare when he was hit in the hand by a pitch last Sunday — his occurred on Friday night against the Tigers.
Jones came around and scored on an RBI double in the third inning, but he slid head first into the plate to beat the throw home.
“He hit his left shoulder really hard onto the ground,” Mainieri said. “We don’t really know what the significance of it is yet, he’s just been real sore. I probably shouldn’t have played him yesterday [Saturday], but he really wanted to play.”
Mainieri’s short term solution to the problem was to put third catcher and occasional outfielder Ryan Bakes in left field with Kaufer behind the plate. But for an offense which only put up six runs in the three games over the weekend, missing two bats who were expected to be in the heart of the order for any amount of time would be devastating.
Especially given the timetable, with SEC play starting in just 12 days.
“We just don’t have that kind of depth of hitters,” Mainieri said. ‘Where if you lose two guys like that you say, ‘Okay, next man up.’ Guys are trying, but we’re going to have to evaluate it and just kind of see what will be the best thing.”
South Carolina returns to action on Tuesday night at 6:30 p.m. ET at home against Davidson.
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