Baseball Faces Wolfpack Tuesday Night at BB&T Ballpark

COLUMBIA, S.C. — The University of South Carolina baseball team heads to Charlotte, N.C., and BB&T Ballpark as the Gamecocks face No. 3 North Carolina State Tuesday night (April 2) at 7 p.m. Tuesday’s game will be streamed on SEC Network + with Burch Antley and Kip Bouknight on the call. All games will be broadcast on The Game 107.5 FM and the Gamecock Sports Network with Derek Scott and Tommy Moody on the call. Carolina lost 2-of-3 games to Auburn this past weekend, winning Saturday’s game 4-0 as Reid Morgan pitched seven-plus scoreless innings.

PROBABLE PITCHING ROTATION

Friday
South Carolina Dylan Harley (Fr. LHP) 1-2, 7.77 ERA, 22.0 IP, 15 BB, 28 SO
N.C. State Canaan Silver (So. LHP) 1-0, 2.45 ERA, 22.0 IP, 7 BB, 15 SO

SCOUTING N.C. STATE

North Carolina State is one of the hottest teams in the country, coming into Tuesday’s game with a 27-2 record. The Wolfpack took 2-of-3 games from Virginia this past weekend and won its first 19 games of the season. Leading N.C. State offensively is Tyler McDonough as he is hitting .366. Will Wilson has 13 doubles and eight home runs and Evan Edwards has 35 RBI. The Wolfpack will start lefty Canaan Silver. He is 1-0 with a 2.45 ERA and 15 strikeouts in 22 innings pitched.

THE SERIES

N.C. State has a 35-21 series advantage in the all-time series but this will be the first meeting between the two schools since 2008. The two teams did face off in the fall, with Carolina winning 2-1 in five innings as Noah Campbell and Andrew Eyster homered in the victory.

PITCHING DAZZLES IN SHUTOUT WIN

Junior Reid Morgan and freshman Brett Kerry combined to shut out Auburn on Saturday afternoon (March 30) at Founders Park. Morgan went seven-plus frames, allowing five hits with four strikeouts and just one walk while Kerry pitched two scoreless innings with a pair of punchouts to seal the win. Morgan is now 3-0 on the season with a 2.17 ERA while Kerry is 2-1 with three saves and a 2.05 ERA.

EIGHT GAMECOCKS DOT MLB OPENING DAY ROSTERS

South Carolina had eight players on Major League Baseball rosters on Opening Day (March 28), including Jackie Bradley Jr., who earned a World Series ring with the Boston Red Sox and was named the 2018 ALCS Most Valuable Player. Whit Merrifield (Kansas City), Justin Smoak (Toronto), Sam Dyson (San Francisco), Grayson Greiner (Detroit) and Christian Walker (Arizona) all are on active rosters while Steve Pearce (Boston), who was the 2018 World Series MVP, and Jordan Montgomery (New York Yankees) will start the 2019 season on the disabled list. Tyler Webb (St. Louis) is on the Cardinals’ 40-man roster heading into the new campaign. The SEC has 85 former players on Opening Day rosters.

SEC LEADERS

At the plate, Jacob Olson is tied for second with nine home runs. Senior TJ Hopkins is third in triples (3), tied for fifth in home runs (8), fifth in total bases (71) and seventh in slugging percentage (.628). Olson is eighth in slugging percentage (.627) and sixth in total bases (69). Luke Berryhill is tied for fifth in doubles (11). On the mound, Reid Morgan is tied for third with 45.2 innings pitched and Cam Tringali is tied for the lead with 15 appearances. As a team, SC is 14th in batting average, 13th in ERA and seventh in fielding percentage.

UP NEXT

The Gamecocks travel to Tuscaloosa, Ala., to face Alabama in a three-game series. The series starts Thursday night (April 4) at 6 p.m. CT (7 p.m. ET) and continues Friday night at the same time. Both games will be televised on SEC Network. The series concludes Saturday afternoon (April 6) at 1 p.m. CT (2 p.m. ET).