Gamecocks Return Home To Face Georgia Southern
April 3, 2018
No. 11 South Carolina vs. Georgia Southern
COLUMBIA, S.C. — No. 11 South Carolina returns home to face Georgia Southern on Wednesday at 6:00 PM ET on SEC Network Plus. Sitting at 15-0 in home games this season, the Gamecocks are the final remaining SEC team with an undefeated record in home games.
Where to park
Fans are encouraged to park in the Heyward Street parking garage for all home games this season.
The upcoming week
The Gamecocks (No. 11/12) return home for a four-game home stand starting with Georgia Southern at 6:00 PM ET on SEC Network Plus.
Carolina comes into the weekend with an impressive 30-6 record, including a 6-3 mark in SEC play thanks to the series win over No. 23 Ole Miss in Oxford three weekends ago and a series sweep over No. 2 Tennessee two weekends ago.
Carolina is set to be on TV for the 19th time this season with the Georgia Southern game.
South Carolina’s opponents for the week came in with a combined 49-19 record. The series against Arkansas will be the 13th-15th time Carolina will face a ranked opponent. This will be the third time this year the Gamecocks will be the higher ranked team in a ranked game.
Just keep moving… SEC road games aren’t easy
Carolina finished 2-2 last week with wins over Furman and at No. 12 Texas A&M. So far this year in conference games, the Gamecocks have taken at least one game in every road SEC series. Dating back to last season, they’ve done so in their last six.
=”fa> How hard is it to win road games against SEC teams? Well, pretty tough. SEC teams are a combined 221-27 (89%) in home games this season. One team (South Carolina) remains perfect in home games (15-0), eight have two or less (Florida, Georgia, LSU, Auburn, Arkansas, Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky) while the most home losses in the conference is six (Ole Miss).
With the win on Sunday, Carolina earned its first win in College Station since 1990 and its third ever since the teams started meeting in 1981.
Carolina finished 2017 with five road conference wins and one SEC road series win. In total, the Gamecocks had six road wins. In 2018, the Gamecocks are already two road conferences wins from tying that mark and two total road wins from matching last season.
What a year… Some big points
Carolina has achieved some major highpoints just 36 games into the 2018 season. The first came early in the year, when the Gamecocks posted a 17-game winning streak, marking the longest streak of its kind since 1997.
With the 17-game victory streak, Carolina got off to its best 20-game start in program history with 19 wins. Nine of those wins came at home at Carolina Softball Stadium at Beckham Field.
Better look into Boesel
Just 36 games into 2018, Mackenzie Boesel has picked up right where she left off last season leading the Gamecocks’s offense. She boasts a .374 batting average (best on the team) on a team-high 40 hits.
Where do her numbers through 36 games stack up to her career numbers? Her batting average (.374) is a career-best, she’s four runs away from tying her best, has a career-best 11 doubles, while her slugging percentage (.607) is also a career best.
Better look into Maguire
Thus far through 36 games, Kenzi Maguire has been the offensive force in the one-spot for Carolina. Maguire has really turned it on during conference play, batting .323 (second-best on the team) with a team-best 10 hits and eight runs scored. Also hit game-winning home run to beat Texas A&M on April 1 with a three-run deep shot with two outs in sixth.
Her .362 batting average is a career best, as is her 33 runs, 38 hits, eight doubles, one triple, 22 RBI, 54 total bases, .514 slugging percentage, 10 walks, .473 on-base percentage and her eight stolen bases.
Runs! Runs! Runs!
Carolina hasnÃÂt been hurting in offense this season, as that side of the ball has outscored opponents 198-68 (+130) through 36 games. A deeper look into that, on average the Gamecocks are outscoring teams 5.97-1.88 thus far.
Where there are runs, there must be hits. Carolina batters have out-hit opponents 252-174 thus far, average about four more hits a game then their opposing batters.
