South Carolina baseball is 18 games into a 56-game schedule. Now they’re staring down the gauntlet of a 30-game SEC slate that begins Friday night when they welcome No. 12 Oklahoma to Founders Park for a weekend series.
They passed the final tune-up with a 7-1 victory over Georgia State on Wednesday night at Founders Park to enter league play with a 15-3 record and no losses in midweek games.
South Carolina coach Paul Mainieri said he’s excited about what he’s seen and knows winning the midweek games are important. “I think the midweek games here at South Carolina are tougher than the midweek games at LSU,” Mainieri said. “Down the line, we have tough games in the middle of the week. “I feel great about our team right now.”
A lot of the non-conference focus has been on Clemson sweeping the Gamecocks in the only games against a team from a Power Four conference.
The games were close but got away from South Carolina in the late innings. They now must face those types of pitchers and hitters on a weekly basis through the end of the season.
And after being out of the sport for several seasons, Mainieri is excited about where the Gamecocks stand. “I know we had the three losses against Clemson, but they were all three hard-fought close games,” Mainieri said. “I know a couple of the scores didn’t end up being indicative of how close the games were.
I told our team I didn’t think we were quite ready to play Clemson the third weekend of the season. We didn’t know how to win even though we had won some close games.
“Now I feel much better about our team. I feel like we know what our best lineup is, we know what our rotation is going to be, and we know what roles to use for the guys in the bullpen.”
Game recap Wednesday was another fine outing from USC pitcher Jarvis Evans in a midweek start. The junior transfer from Georgia allowed one run on four hits with seven strikeouts and two walks in five innings of work. In his last two outings, he’s allowed two runs on seven hits in 12 innings pitched with 13 strikeouts and four walks.
“I try to do the same thing every single outing,” Evans said. “I go into it and try to fill the zone up. (Pitching coach Terry) Rooney is big on competitive strike throwers and that’s what I’m trying to be.” Mainieri, who coached third base with Monte Lee out recruiting, used the opportunity to get eight pitchers in game action and 13 hitters to the plate. “We got a lot of guys into the game to keep them sharp for this weekend, so that was good,” Mainieri said.
The Gamecocks did most of the damage in the third inning after falling behind on a Panthers solo home run in the second. It started innocently enough with a sac fly from Ethan Petry and an RBI groundout out from Kennedy Jones.
The Gamecocks loaded the bases on two walks and an infield single from Talmadge LeCroy before Jordan Carrion delivered the big blow with the bases loaded.
The transfer from Florida State doubled off the wall to clear the bases and give the Gamecocks a 5-1 lead. Nathan Hall finished off the six-run frame with an RBI single. “Carrion came through not with just a big hit, but did it with two outs and two strikes.
Those are my favorite kind,” Mainieri said. “Some people think being clutch isn’t part of the game, but I do. That was a clutch hit that gave us some breathing room.” Carrion was pleased with his two-hit, three-RBI outing, but he knows what begins this weekend. “It’s fun. It’s the best league in college baseball and we get to play against the best teams,” Carrion said. “We have Oklahoma this Friday and we’re going to be ready for them. It’s going to be fun to play against the best. That’s the reason you come to South Carolina.”
USC baseball schedule: Upcoming games
Friday vs. Oklahoma, 7 p.m. (SEC Network Plus)
Saturday vs. Oklahoma, 4 p.m. (SEC Network Plus)
Sunday vs. Oklahoma, 1:30 p.m. (SEC Network Plus)
Tuesday vs. Charleston at Segra Park, 6:30 p.m. (SEC Network Plus)
March 21 at Arkansas, 7:30 p.m. (SEC Network Plus)
March 22 at Arkansas, 3 p.m. (SEC Network Plus)
March 23 at Arkansas, 3 p.m. (SEC Network Plus)
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