Who: South Carolina (23-20, 9-12) at #13 Texas A&M (28-15, 12-9). Blue Bell Park (very underrated ice cream brand).

Time/TV: Friday 7:30 pm EST, Saturday 3:00 pm EST, Sunday 2:00 pm EST. All games will stream live on SEC Network+.

Line: A&M -185, SC +150, O/U 9.5

Starting Pitchers: Game 1 RHP Jr. Brett Thomas (0-0 6.39 ERA, 14Ks, 8 BB, .313 OBA) v. RHP Soph. Nathan Dettmer (5-2, 3.13 ERA, 58Ks, 13 BB, .234 OBA), Game 2, RHP Jr. Noah Hall (2-4, 4.57 ERA, 61Ks, 24 BB, .265 OBA) v. RHP Jr. Micah Dallas (4-3, 5.49 ERA, 68Ks, 15 BB, .283 OBA), Game 3, Soph. RHP Will Sanders (6-2, 3.83 ERA, 63Ks, 20 BB, .256 OBA) v. TBA

History: South Carolina leads 10-7. The Gamecocks won the first 5 meetings between the two school, including a 5-4 College World Series opening win in the first ever matchup. The schools have not met since 2019, when A&M took two of three in Columbia. The Gamecocks won the last series in College Station in 2018 taking two of three.

The last time I took at look at Texas A&M's team was March 29, just before South Carolina's midweek loss to PC. A&M was sitting at 14-9, having lost a series at home to Penn. Their RPI was 64. Since then A&M is 14-6 and their RPI currently sits at 13. The Aggies have won their last 4 SEC series, (Kentucky, @Georgia, Arkansas, @Vandy), and currently are tied for 3rd in the league.

Texas A&M leads the SEC in batting average during conference play hitting .282 as a team. The Aggies and Gamecocks both have 25 home runs in SEC, A&M has gotten 16 of those 25 from the duo of Dylan Rock and Ryan Targac. Rock is Graduate Transfer outfielder having played 4 seasons previously at UT San Antonio. Rock is hitting .333 in SEC play. Rock leads the SEC with 28 runs. He ranks third in on-base percentage (.476), fourth in total bases (60) and walks (19), fifth in slugging percentage (.741) and RBI (23) and sixth in home runs (9).

The Aggies have one of the SEC's hottest pitchers throwing in tonight's series opener in Nathan Dettmer. The Sophomore has allowed two runs or less in five consecutive starts. He is 4-0 with a 1.39 ERA and 34 strikeouts in 32.1 innings over the span. As a team A&M has a 4.90 ERA in SEC play, the Gamecocks are giving up exactly 1 more earned run a game than the Aggies. Stanford transfer Jacob Palisch is the Aggies closer, Carolina does not want to see a lot of him this weekend as he has a 0.48 ERA in his last 18+ innings of work.

A&M made a major power move last offseason when it poached Jim Schlossnagle from instate rival TCU. Schlossnagle coached the Horned Frogs for 18 years and made 5 CWS appearances in that time period. He is a two-time Coach of Year of the award winner.

I do not think that South Carolina can make the postseason without a series victory in College Station, The Gamecocks RPI is currently at 65. They are going to need to be sitting about 20 spots higher come selection Monday. Carolina faces Kentucky next weekend (who beat Tennessee last night), and then finishes off the regular season at Florida. At 9-12 in league play, the Gamecocks need 6 more league wins to have a shot. A sweep over either Kentucky or Florida is unlikely. The Gamecocks 2-10 road record is another black eye on the resume. Carolina needs a marquee road series win.

It is really tough to win 5 straight series in the SEC, but until the Gamecocks elevate their play on the road we can't pick them to win a road series. Aggies 2 of 3.