What does Mark Kingston think of college baseball's new rules?

From mid-February until the end of May, South Carolina will play 56 games in the regular season against competition ranging from SEC teams to non-conference opponents like Clemson and Princeton.

But when the season comes to a close in May or June, they’ll still have two more games this year in September or October thanks to new rules passed this week by the NCAA.

The Division 1 Council approved a new rule Wednesday allowing teams to schedule two games during fall scrimmages against outside teams that don’t count against the 56-game regular season schedule.

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That means the Gamecocks in the early part of the season could host a few marquee match-ups at Founders Park before the calendar turns over.

Head coach Mark Kingston said the staff has already talked about which teams could come to Columbia as part of this new rule, but played it coy in not naming those schools just yet.

He did say, though, he’s in favor of the new rule.

“I think you can get creative with it. There are a lot of things that can be on the table with who you play. Maybe you play some opponents that people get excited about,” Kingston said. “Everything at this point will be on the table.”

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As part of the new rules, a change is coming to the team’s recruiting calendar.

With the rule changes, prospects can start taking official visits starting at the beginning of their junior years as opposed to the start of their senior years.

Coaches also can’t have on-campus contact with a prospect until his junior year as well, which is designed to try and cut down on the amount of freshmen and sophomores committing to schools.

More and more younger prospects are taking unofficial visits their freshman or sophomore years, committing then as well.

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Now, recruits would have to pay their own way into any game they go to, an idea aimed at curbing early commitments.

Kingston doesn’t know how much the change will affect things, saying now there might be more commitments without a visit. The rules go into affect next academic year.

“I think there are going to be some kids as freshmen and sophomores wanting to commit to schools without maybe even meeting the coaches face to face. I think that component, the recruiting part, is still a work in progress.”